Meristostylus Klotzsch (1861: 267)

Smith, Gideon F., 2024, A review and analysis of the nomenclature and taxonomy of the genus-rank synonyms of Kalanchoe (Crassulaceae subfam. Kalanchooideae) published between 1763 and 1956, Phytotaxa 659 (3), pp. 236-254 : 242-243

3. Meristostylus Klotzsch (1861: 267) , a heterotypic synonym of Kalanchoe Adanson (1763: 248) .

Type [species] of the genus name Meristostylus :— Meristostylus macrocalyx Klotzsch (1861: 269) , currently accepted as a synonym of Kalanchoe lanceolata (Forsskål 1775: CXI & 89) Persoon (1805: 446), here designated ( Fig. 3A ).

Type specimen of the name Meristostylus macrocalyx :— MOZAMBIQUE. [Likely Companhia do] Boror, an Waldrändern [on forest edges], s.d., W.C.H. Peters s.n. (Herb. B barcode B 10 0241957 [image available at https:// herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100241957], designated as “Type” by Fernandes (1983: 43), here corrected to lectotype ( Fig. 3B ).

Taxonomic notes:—Klotzsch (1861) described three species in his new genus Meristostylus . These are: (1) M. grandiflorus Klotzsch (1861: 268) ; (2) M. macrocalyx Klotzsch (1861: 269) ; and (3) M. brachycalyx Klotzsch (1861: 270) . The first of these names, M. grandiflorus , is regarded as being of unresolved application (see Descoings 2003: 144); the second one, M. macrocalyx , is included in the synonymy of K. lanceolata (see Smith et al. 2019: 172); and the third one, M. brachycalyx , is included in the synonymy of K. rotundifolia (Haworth 1824: 188) Haworth (1825: 31) (see Smith et al. 2019: 215). Interestingly, the flower colour of M. brachycalyx was given as “coerulescentenigricantibus” [bluish black]. No species with blue or black flowers are known in Kalanchoe . However, the flowers of some variants of K. rotundifolia tend to dry dark purplish brown to black well post-anthesis, and the corolla tubes of the ‘rotundifolioid’ flowers K. gideonsmithii Crouch & Figueiredo (2022: 234) are most usually strongly purple-infused (as are the leaves, for that matter). The flowers of both K. humilis Britten (1871: 397) and K. prasina Brown (1904: 211) , both of which are from Mozambique from where M. grandiflorus , M. macrocalyx , and M. brachycalyx were collected are variously purple-infused, but cannot be interpreted as bluish black ( Smith 2020: 271–273).

Nomenclatural notes:—All three species that Klotzsch (1861: 268–270) included in Meristostylus belong in K. subg. Kalanchoe , which is the only subgenus that has representatives that occur naturally beyond Madagascar. Meristostylus macrocalyx is here designated as the type of the genus name. Meristostylus macrocalyx is currently accepted as a synonym of K. lanceolata , a widespread and variable species as interpreted at present.

Figures

FIGURE 3. A. Material of Kalanchoe lanceolata, the currently accepted name of Meristostylus macrocalyx. Meristostylus macrocalyx is the [lecto-]type of the genus name Meristostylus. B. Type specimen (lectotype), deposited in Herb. B, of the name M. macrocalyx: “Mozambique.[Likely Companhia do] Boror, an Waldrändern [on forest edges]”, s.d., W.C.H. Peters s.n. (Herb. B barcode B 10 0241957). Credits: Photograph 3A taken by Gideon F. Smith. Photograph 3B courtesy, copyright, and reproduced with the kind permission of Herb. B, at the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum (BGBM) Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.