Kalanchoe pearsonii Brown (1914: 247)

Smith, Gideon F., 2023, A nomenclatural and taxonomic review of the names and new combination published between 1886 and 1931 in Kalanchoe (Crassulaceae subfam. Kalanchooideae) by British botanist Nicholas Edward Brown (1849 - 1934), Phytotaxa 630 (4), pp. 266-280 : 274

12. Kalanchoe pearsonii Brown (1914: 247) .

Type:— ANGOLA. South Angola. “Huilla [Huíla] Plateau, near Humpata”, elevation 2000 m, 5 May 1909, H.H.W. Pearson 2149 (holotype, K barcode K000232894, available at http://specimens.kew.org/herbarium/K000232894]!).

Taxonomic notes:—At present the name K. pearsonii is treated as a synonym of K. lindmanii Hamet (1913: 1) (see for example Fernandes 1980: 398, Fernandes 1982: 26, and Descoings 2003: 162).

Nomenclatural notes:—When Brown (1914: 247) published the name K. pearsonii , he provided the following information: “TROPICAL AFRICA. South Angola: fairly common on the Huilla [Huíla] Plateau, near Humpata, 2000 m., Pearson 2149.” The Pearson specimen is the only one cited by Brown (1914: 247). There is no evidence that duplicates of it exist or that Brown had additional material available when he published the name K. pearsonii . The specimen H.H.W. Pearson 2149 is therefore the holotype of the name K. pearsonii . This interpretation agrees with that of Fernandes (1982: 26), where she regarded “ Pearson 2149” as the “ holótipo de K. pearsonii ”.

The material that constitutes the holotype was collected on 5 May 1909, during the [William] Percy Sladen Memorial Expedition in South-West Africa [ Namibia] of 1908 to 1909. Although the Expedition focussed on Namibia, Pearson, after travelling northwards by boat from Lüderitz Bay, Namibia, also collected in Angola from March to June 1909 ( Gunn & Codd 1981: 276). Pearson died at the young age of 46, in 1916, two years after K. pearsonii was described. Like N.E. Brown, whose kalanchoe work is analysed in this paper, Pearson was a dedicated workaholic, which took a toll on his health.