Kalanchoe blossfeldiana Von Poellnitz (1934: 159)

Gallo, Lorenzo & Smith, Gideon F., 2024, A review of the genus Kalanchoe (Crassulaceae subfam. Cotyledonoideae) in the Euro-Mediterranean area, with an annotated catalogue and identification key, Phytotaxa 674 (2), pp. 171-198 : 175-176

1. Kalanchoe blossfeldiana Von Poellnitz (1934: 159) ( Fig. 1 ).

Type:— MADAGASCAR. Northern Madagascar, Tsaratanana Massif, almost always in the forest with lichens on the peaks [‘Silve à Lichens’], in isolated stands of never more than four to five plants, at altitudes of between 1600 and 2400 m, herbarium material prepared from plants cultivated in the garden of H. Perrier de la Bâthie in Antananarivo and not from the wild, no date [specimen donated to Herb. P in 1932], [J.M.] H. [A.] Perrier de la Bâthie 17883 (lectotype designated by Van Voorst & Arends (1982: 575), P barcode P00374114! [Image of the specimen available for inspection online at http://coldb.mnhn.fr/catalognumber/mnhn/p/p00374114]), second-step lectotype designated by Smith & Figueiredo (2022: 107).

Iconography:—Smith et al. (2019).

Secondary distribution:— Italy (Sardinia) = cited by Stinca et al. (2021); a single plant was discovered in Cagliari; this could be a reference to material having been planted and not to material that has escaped. Referencing it as a first warning for Europe may prove to be premature. Turkey (Anatolia) = Uludağ et al. (2017). Belgium = Randall (2017). European Russia = indicated by Byalt (2012) as a new record in the Komarov Institute where it is sometimes cultivated; also noted in a dump in Rzhev (Notov in Byalt 2012). Great Britain = Clement & Foster (1994) treat it as a casual greenhouse escape and further state that: “Plants grown under this name are often of complex hybrid origin”. Poland = escaped into greenhouse cultivation ( Galera & Ratynska 1999, Randall 2017). Sweden = Karlsson & Agestam (2019).

[Also in Ecuador ( Vargas et al. 2022), New Zealand, U.S.A.]

Notes:—References by Bayon & Vilà (2019) and Guillot Ortiz (2020a: 35) of K. blossfeldiana in the province of Castellón, Spain, are of material cultivated as ornamentals.

Figures

FIGURE 1. The bright red-flowered Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is popular in especially indoor cultivation in places with severe climates. Many plants sold under the name K. blossfeldiana are, in fact, the result of complex hybridisation and do not represent the genetically unadulterated species. (Photograph: Gideon F. Smith).