Kalanchoe linearifolia 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 : 163-165

3. Kalanchoe linearifolia Drake del Castillo (1903: 41) ( Fig. 3 )

Type:— MADAGASCAR. South-central Madagascar. Androy Region . Cap Ste Marie, fleur rouge sang [flowers blood red], [illegible] 1 m 50 hauteur [1.5 m high], 17-7-1901, G. Grandidier s.n. (holotype, Herb. P barcode P00374233 ! [Image available at: http://coldb. mnhn.fr/catalognumber/mnhn/p/p00374233]) .

Homotypic synonym:— Kalanchoe bonnieri Hamet (1907b: 139) .

Taxonomic note:— Kalanchoe linearifolia is an accepted species.

Nomenclature notes:—As was the case with K. beharensis , which Hamet (1906) redescribed as K. vantieghemii , in this instance, too, Hamet (1907b: 139) published a superfluous name when he published the name K. bonnieri based on exactly the same Grandidier [type] material that Drake del Castillo used when he published the name K. linearifolia . Hamet was seemingly aware of the publication of Drake del Castillo (1903) and it is somewhat perplexing why Hamet redescribed Grandidier’s material that Drake del Castillo cited as “Cap Sainte-Marie (17 juillet 1901)” as K. bonnieri (see below). Note that K. linearifolia was described by Hamet only, not by “Hamet & H.Perrier” as recorded by Boiteau & Allorge-Boiteau (1995: 149).

Hamet (1907b: 139), when publishing the name K. bonnieri stated: “Je vais maintenant décrire une espèce nouvelle, voisine du Kalanchoe Grandidieri par l’ensemble de ses caractères floraux, mais très nettement différente de celui-ci par ses feuilles cylindriques, en forme de stylet, non planes obovées, par ses fleurs disposées en cyme bipare, non en petits groupes de 3 (ou rarement 2) disposés le long d’une hampe allongée. Cette espèce se distingue encore du Kalanchoe précité par sa corolle plus large et moins longue, de couleur rouge sang, non mauve-violette, et par ses carpelles beaucoup moins allongés. Par ses feuilles elle se rapproche du Kalanchoe teretifolia Deflers 1, d’Arabie, dont elle diffère par l’ensemble de ses caractères floraux. J’en ferai le Kalanchoe Bonnieri. ” [English: “I shall now describe a new species, which is similar to Kalanchoe grandidieri in all its floral characters, but very clearly different from it by its cylindrical, styletiform, non-obovate leaves, and by its flowers arranged in a biparous cyme, not in small groups of three (or rarely two) arranged along an elongated stalk. This species is further distinguished from the aforementioned Kalanchoe [ K. grandidieri ] by its larger and shorter, blood red, not purple-violet corolla, and by its much less elongated carpels. In its leaves it is similar to Kalanchoe teretifolia Deflers 1, from Arabia, from which it differs in all its floral characters. I shall name it Kalanchoe bonnieri. ”] Superscript 1 refers to: “1. A. DEFLERS, Note sur un Kalanchoe remarquable de l’Arabie tropicale, Bull. Soc. bot. Fr., XL, pp. 298–301, Pl. IIl– V 1893.”

However, shortly after having described K. bonnieri , and while working on his monograph of Kalanchoe, Hamet (1907a: 887) noted: “Observation: M. Drake del Castillo a, dans sa description, donné les feuilles comme linéaires. Me basant sur la forme des cicatrices laissées sur la tige par les feuilles tombées, je les avais décrites comme cylindriques, stylettiformes. L’échantillon rapporté dans l’alcool par M. Geay et dont les feuilles ont conservé leur forme naturelle m’a donné raison. La description du K. linearifolia n’est mentionnée dans aucun recueil bibliographique. L’échantillon authentique, conservé dans l’herbier Drake del Castillo, ne porte aucune mention qui fasse supposer qu’il ait été décrit. Aussi croyant avoir à faire á une espèce nouvelle, je lui avais donné le nom de K. Bonnieri . Un hasard m’apprit trop tard que ce nom faisait double emploi.” [English: “Observation: Mr. Drake del Castillo, in his description, gave the leaves as linear. Based on the shape of the scars left on the stem by the fallen leaves, I described them as cylindrical, styletiform. The specimen brought back in alcohol by Mr [Martin François] Geay [1859–1910], the leaves of which retained their natural form, proved me right. The description of K. linearifolia is not mentioned in any bibliographic record. The authentic specimen, kept in the Drake del Castillo herbarium, bears no mention to suggest that it had been described. Also, believing I had to do with a new species, I gave it the name of K. bonnieri . I only fortuitously realised too late that the name was a duplicate [a synonym of K. linearifolia ]”.]

The type of the name K. linearifolia consists of a single specimen. The collector of the specimen is “ G. Grandidier s.n.” and the date is 17 July 1901. As this is the only Grandidier specimen we could trace with this date and locality we conclude that this specimen constitutes the holotype of the name K. linearifolia , as it is the “ one specimen ” ( Turland et al. 2018: Art. 9.1) indicated [or used] by Drake del Castillo (1903: 41) when he published the name. This view coincides with that of Boiteau & Allorge-Boiteau (1995: 149) who state that the “Holo- [P]” of the name K. linearifolia , “Grandidier Guillaume, cap Ste Marie, 17.7.1901 ”, is held in Herb. P. Descoings (2003: 163) reflected the type of the name only as “ T: Madagascar (Grandidier s.n. [P])”.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Kalanchoe linearifolia is a red-flowered, lianoid-shrubby species. Photograph: Gideon F. Smith.