Kalanchoe antanosiana Drake

Smith, Gideon F. & Figueiredo, Estrela, 2022, Nomenclatural and taxonomic notes on the names published in Kalanchoe (Crassulaceae subfam. Kalanchooideae) by Drake del Castillo in 1903, Phytotaxa 547 (2), pp. 158-166 : 160

1. Kalanchoe antanosiana Drake del Castillo (1903: 41) ( Fig. 1 )

Type:— MADAGASCAR. Southwestern Madagascar. Atsimo-Andrefana Region, Vallée du Saint-Augustin [ Ianantsony ], 19 mai [May] 1898, G. Grandidier s.n. (holotype, Herb. P barcode P00374220 ! [Image available at http://coldb.mnhn.fr/catalognumber/mnhn/p/ p00374220) .

Taxonomic notes:— Kalanchoe antanosiana is widely treated as a heterotypic synonym of K. orgyalis Baker (1882: 110) (see Smith & Figueiredo 2022: 100). However, Hamet (1907a: 891) and Raymond-Hamet (1915: 128) accepted both species. In contrast, some 30 and 60 years later, respectively, Berger (1930: 407) and Raymond-Hamet & Marnier-Lapostolle (1964: 67, Plate XXV, Figures 80–81), the latter being the only large-scale taxonomic work exclusively dealing with a broad selection of Kalanchoe taxa following the revision of Hamet (1907a, 1908a), treated K. orgyalis only. More recently, Boiteau & Allorge-Boiteau (1995: 140–142) and Descoings (2003: 168) accepted K. antanosiana as a synonym of K. orgyalis .

Nomenclature notes:—Drake del Castillo (1903: 41), when publishing the name K. antanosiana , only stated: “Vallée du Saint-Augustin (19 mai 1898)” where he cited material in the protologue of the name. However, on the first page of the paper, Drake del Castillo (1903: 35) stated: “Pendant ses deux voyages à Madagascar, en 1898 et en 1901, M. Guillaume Grandidier a réuni, dans le Sud de l’île, une collection botanique des plus intéressantes.” [English: “During his two trips to Madagascar, in 1898 and 1901, Mr. Guillaume Grandidier gathered, in the south of the island, a most interesting botanical collection.”], and then proceeds to discuss and, if required, to describe, some of Grandidier’s interesting finds. On his first expedition to Madagascar Grandidier explored some of the western parts of the island, from Majunga to Tuléar, then travelled from Tuléar to Tananarive via Isalo, Fianarantsoa, and the Tanala country ( Dorr 1997: 187).

It must therefore be assumed that all the material cited in Drake del Castillo’s paper was very likely exclusively collected by Grandidier in Madagascar. Under Turland et al. (2018: Art. 40.3 Note 2) mere citation of a locality does not constitute mention of a single specimen or gathering. Turland et al. (2018: Art. 40.3 Note 2) further state that concrete reference to some detail relating to the actual type, such as collector’s name, collecting number, or date is required.

The collector of the type specimen of the name K. antanosiana can therefore be given as “ G. Grandidier s.n.” and the date is “ 19 May 1898 ”. As this is the only Grandidier specimen we could trace with this date, and locality for that matter (see above), we conclude that this specimen constitutes the holotype of the name K. antanosiana , as it is the “ one specimen ” ( Turland et al. 2018: Art. 9.1) indicated [or used] by Drake del Castillo (1903: 41) when publishing the name. This view coincides with that of Boiteau & Allorge-Boiteau (1995: 140) who state that the “holo-[P]” of the name K. antanosiana , “Grandidier Guillaume s. no ”, is held in Herb. P. Eight years later Descoings (2003: 168) did not reflect on the type of the name—the types of heterotypic synonyms were not provided in that work.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Kalanchoe antanosiana is included in the synonymy of K. orgyalis, a shrubby, yellow-flowered species. Photograph: Gideon F. Smith.