Kalanchoe marmorata Baker (1892: 300)

Smith, Gideon F., 2021, How Kalanchoe marmorata (Crassulaceae subfam. Kalanchooideae), a distinctive central and east African species, received its name, and the later, valid publication of K. macrantha by Maire, Phytotaxa 502 (1), pp. 93-100 : 97-98

Kalanchoe marmorata Baker (1892: 300)

Type:— Abyssinia [ ETHIOPIA], Choa [ Shewa ], Ifat, s.d., Richard Quartin-Dillon & Antoine Petit s.n., (holotype P! MNHN-P-P00374095, https://science.mnhn.fr/institution/mnhn/collection/p/item/p00374095?listIndex=9075&listCount=16502; isotypes P! MNHN-P- P00374096 https://science.mnhn.fr/institution/mnhn/collection/p/item/p00374096?listIndex=9076&listCount=16502, and MNHN- P-P00374097 https://science.mnhn.fr/institution/mnhn/collection/p/item/p00374097?listIndex=9077&listCount=16502) .

Homotypic synonyms:— Kalanchoe macrantha Baker ex Maire (1976: 254) var. marmorata (Baker) Maire (1976: 255) ; K. macrantha var. richardiana Maire (1976: 255) .

Heterotypic synonyms:— Kalanchoe somaliensis Baker (1895: 214) in Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1895(105). Hooker: t. 7831 (1902); Also treated in: Jacobsen (1986: 629). Kalanchoe macrantha Baker ex Maire (1976: 254) var. somaliensis ( Baker 1895: 214) Maire (1976: 255) . Type:—Somali Land [ SOMALIA], Wardie, 22 February [presumably] 1895, received [presumably at Herb. K] in “5/95” [May 1895], [Miss] Edith Cole s.n. [Herb. K accession number H 608/68 41], (lectotype, K! K 000232777, https://apps.kew.org/herbcat/ getImage.do?imageBarcode= K 000232777), here designated.

Nomenclatural notes on the type of Kalanchoe marmorata :— Raadts (1977: 106), Wickens (1987: 33), and Descoings (2003:165) variously cited Penzig s.n., a specimen held at Herb. K, as the holotype of the name K. marmorata , as follows: “Type: ETHIOPIA, Eritrea, Mt Lalamba near Keren, Penzig s.n., collected in 1891, cultivated at La Mortola [Hanbury Gardens], Ventimiglia, Italy, in August 1892 ( K holo-!, K 000232779, http://specimens.kew.org/herbarium/ K 000232779”.

However, under Turland et al. (2018: Art. 7.4) a replacement name is typified by the type of the replaced synonym. Since Baker (1893: 458) effectively published the name K. marmorata as a replacement name for K. grandiflora A.Rich. non Wight & Arn., an illegitimate homonym of K. grandiflora Wight. & Arn. , the type of the name K. marmorata is the type of the name K. grandiflora A.Rich. non Wight & Arn.

In volume 1 of Tentamen florae abyssinicae, Richard (1847) especially credited Drs Richard Quartin-Dillon and Antonio Petit for, inter alia, their collecting activities in the region from 1839 to 1843 that enabled production of this Flora ( Stafleu & Cowan 1983: 763–764). In the text ( Richard 1847: 310) “Ant. [Antoine] Petit” is mentioned as the sole collector of the type specimen of the name K. grandiflora A.Rich. non Wight & Arn., as noted by Wickens (1987: 34). However, on a handwritten note attached to the bottom left-hand corner of the type specimen it is stated that “Quartin Dillon et Petit” gathered the specimen. Both Quartin-Dillon and Petit are therefore here listed as the collectors of the holotype. Note that in Richard (1847) Quartin-Dillon’s surname is variously written with (on p. v) or without (also on p. v) a hyphen.

The type specimen, Richard Quartin-Dillon & Antoine Petit s.n., itself is distinctly labelled as having been collected in Abyssinia [ Ethiopia], Choa [Shewa]. Wickens (1987: 34) further listed the locality as “Ifat”, an ancient Kingdom in the Horn of Africa that covered parts of Ethiopia, Somalia , and Djibouti.

The publication date of volume 1 of Tentamen florae abyssinicae was given as “1848” by Wickens (1987: 34), but it was published one year earlier, in 1847 (see also Stafleu & Cowan 1983: 763).

Nomenclatural notes on the type of Kalanchoe somaliensis :—In the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, two specimens of K. somaliensis that were collected by two different collectors, Miss Edith Cole and Mrs E. Lort Phillips, apparently on different dates, are mounted on a single sheet. The specimens are separated by a near-vertical pencil line drawn on the mounting board. These specimens can be identified as follows:

1. Kalanchoe somaliensis Baker, Mrs E. Lort Phillips s.n., Herb K. accession number H5014 / 61 34, received [presumably at Herb. K] in “6/95” [June 1895], collecting date not stated. The affixed label headed “ Somali Land” states: “Very curious qualities of speckled leaves like oyster shells [illegible] down flowers white on tall [illegible]”. Barcode K K000232776 .

2. Kalanchoe somaliensis Baker, Miss Edith Cole s.n., Herb K. accession number H608 / 68 41, received [presumably at Herb. K] in “5/95” [May 1895], collecting date given as “Feb. 22” [year not stated; probably 1895]. The affixed label headed “ Somali Land” states: “ Kalanchoe somaliensis Baker in Kew Bullet.” and the locality is given as “Wardie”. Barcode K K000232777 .

The Lort Phillips specimen has a red label “ HOLOTYPE ” affixed to it. However, this is not correct as Baker (1895: 214) clearly cited two specimens, i.e., both the Lort Phillips specimen as well as the Cole specimen, resulting in the name K. somaliensis not having a holotype. For both specimens the locality was given as “Somali-land, Golis range, near Wardie” ( Baker 1895: 214), even though the origin of the Lort Phillips specimen itself is devoid of a collecting location. The Lort Phillips and Cole specimens are syntypes as they represent two independent specimens, even though they were mounted on a single sheet. There is no evidence that they were collected jointly by Lort Phillips and Cole on the same date—the one has “no date” and the other one is dated “Feb. 22” [year not stated; probably 1895]—and at the same time. The Edith Cole specimen, which has a collecting date and locality, is here designated as lectotype.

The statement “ K. somaliensis BAKER, Bull. Misc. Inform. 1895: 214, 1895 .— Type: COLE, LORT PHILLIPS s. n., 1895, Somalia, Golis range ( K holotype!)” as included in Raadts (1977: 106) is not correct and not correctable under Turland et al. (2018: Art. 9.10) as Raadts clearly cited two specimens [Miss Edith Cole s.n. and Mrs E. Lort Phillips s.n.] as holotype. these specimens can also not be narrowed down to a single one (under Turland et al. 2018: Art. 9.17) as the two specimens do not refer to a single gathering.