Kalanchoe bentii C.H.Wright ex Hooker (1901

Smith, Gideon F., 2022, Taxonomic and nomenclatural notes on Kalanchoe bentii (Crassulaceae subfam. Kalanchooideae), Phytotaxa 555 (2), pp. 178-186 : 181-182

Kalanchoe bentii C.H.Wright ex Hooker (1901 : tab. 7765).

Type:— SOUTHERN ARABIA [ YEMEN]. s.c. s.n., described from material raised from seed ( Hooker 1901: tab. 7765 stated: “ Kalanchoe Bentii was raised from seeds collected by the late Mr. Theodore Bent in the Hadramaut district of Southern Arabia in 1894 […]”) and cultivated at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, that flowered in June 1900, (lectotype K K000838476 !, image of specimen available at: http://specimens.kew.org/herbarium/K000838476); regarded as “holotype” by Cufodontis (1965: 741), here corrected to lectotype.

Nomenclatural notes on the name K. bentii :— Cufodontis (1965: 741) regarded Bent s.n. as the “ holotype ” of the name K. bentii . However, nowhere in the protologue of the name K. bentii , apart from the statement that material of this species was “raised from seeds” in cultivation at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is there any reference to material prepared for deposition in a herbarium and the name therefore cannot have a holotype. Further, the type specimen of the name K. bentii is often variously cited as “ Bent s.n.” (see for example Cufodontis 1965: 741, Miller 1996: 474, and Descoings 2003: 147). However, there is no indication on the type specimen that Bent prepared the specimen; in fact, Bent had been deceased for some years by the time that material flowered at Kew.

The specimen s.c. s.n. (K000838476) qualifies as original material under Turland et al. (2018: Articles 9.3 & 9.4) as it was clearly available to Hooker (1901), and the typification of Cufodontis (1965: 471) was effective, but the type status of the specimen is here corrected to that of lectotype, as there is no indication that Hooker (1901) did not use additional material ( Turland et al. 2018: Art. 9.1). This view is further corroborated by the specimen consisting of leaf and flower fragments only.

Hooker (1901: tab. 7765) stated: “ K. Bentii, C. H. Wright mss.”, so indicating that the name had been proposed by Wright. This might have been done in sched. by Wright, through an anonymous—possibly Wright’s—handwritten statement affixed to the specimen K000838476, which states “ K. Bentii, C. H. Wright ”.

Heterotypic synonyms:— K. teretifolia Deflers (1894: 299 , tab. 3–5) nom. illeg. ( Turland et al. 2018: Art. 53.1) non Haworth (1831: 53, tab. 166) in Wallich (1831). Type:— YEMEN. Bilad Fodhli, Ad declivia borealia montis Nakhaï, [700–800 m above sea level], 31 March 1890, A. Deflers 500 (lectotype here designated P P00706226!, image of specimen available at: http://coldb.mnhn.fr/catalognumber/mnhn/p/p00706226; isolectotype P P00706227!, image of specimen available at: http://coldb.mnhn.fr/catalognumber/mnhn/p/p00706227).

K. deflersii Gagnepain (1916: 221) . Type:—as for K. teretifolia Deflers non Haw.

Notes on the type of K. teretifolia Deflers :—The only gathering cited by Deflers (1894: 300) when he described K. teretifolia was “Exs. no 500”, which refers to material collected under “A. Deflers. — Iter Arabicum secundum.”

Herb. P holds at least three specimens of the gathering A. Deflers 500, and the name K. teretifolia therefore does not have a holotype, in contrast to the statement of Cufodontis (1965: 741). All three specimens consist of flowering and / or fruiting branches, are dated 31 March 1890, and carry labels that state “ Kalanchoe teretifolia sp.[ec.] nov.”, except in the case of specimen P00706227 , where a name does not appear on the label.

However, these three preparations are not clearly labelled as being part of the same specimen and do not bear a single, original label in common ( Turland et al. 2018: Art. 8.3). The presence of the same date, i.e., “ 31 March 1890 ”, on the several sheets of this gathering indicates that they represent specimens of a gathering made at the same time. However, the specimen P00706225 almost certainly originated from the plant cultivated in Cairo (see ‘History of the introduction of Kalanchoe bentii ’, above, with even a photograph of the plant in a pot being attached to the sheet. Therefore, it is unlikely that the collection imaged under P00706225 was made on 31 March 1890; it was probably made three years later.

The multi-specimen A. Deflers 500 gathering is labelled as having originated from Bilad Fodhli, at an altitude of between 700–800 m.

The three A. Deflers 500 specimens, all of them syntypes under Turland et al. (2018: Art. 40 Note 1), are, with their barcodes and stable web identifiers:

1. http://coldb.mnhn.fr/catalognumber/mnhn/p/p00706225

2. http://coldb.mnhn.fr/catalognumber/mnhn/p/p00706226

3. http://coldb.mnhn.fr/catalognumber/mnhn/p/p00706227

The specimen P00706226 is here designated as lectotype of the name K. teretifolia Deflers non Haw.

Descoings (2003: 147–148) did not cite a type for K. teretifolia Deflers non Haw., as in that work the types of synonymic names were not cited.

Kalanchoe bentii subsp. somalica Cufodontis (1965: 741) . Type:— SOMALIA. [Somaliland], Sanaag Region and part of Nugaal [N2, a region recognised in the context of the Flora of Somalia, see Thulin 1993 b: 1], “Milishi”, (near Cerigaabo), Erigavo District, 1943, E. Peck B4274 [also cited as “ Peck in Bally 4274 ”] (holotype K K000232762!, image of specimen available at: http://specimens. kew.org/herbarium/K000232762).

Amplified description of Kalanchoe bentii :—Perennial or multiannual, few- to many-leaved, usually unbranched, glabrous or glandular-pubescent, medium-sized to large succulent, to 1.5 m tall when flowering. Stems light greenish grey to yellowish brown, herbaceous but sturdy, usually unbranched, erect or leaning, leaf scars obvious, raised below, whitish, contrasting against stem surface. Leaves opposite-decussate, sessile, uniformly khaki to light greyish green, succulent, more or less erect when young, erectly to horizontally spreading lower down, not stem-clasping, very slightly thickened at point of attachment to stem, stiffly brittle on drying; petiole absent; blade (7–)15–20(–40) × (0.5–)1.5(–2.0) cm, somewhat terete, slightly longitudinally grooved above and often on sides, dagger-shaped-cylindrical, tapering to both ends, round to ovate to rounded-triangular in cross-section, leaf veins not obvious; apex acute-tipped, often yellowish and drying light brown; base cuneate-narrowed; margins not obvious. Inflorescence an erect, apically subdense to dense, few- to many-flowered, ± flat-topped to somewhat rounded corymb with several dichasia, 20–30 cm tall, rather round in outline when viewed from above, lacking leafy branchlets in axils; peduncle reddish pink, glabrous; branches opposite, subtended by very small, narrow, leaf-like bracts, margins of bracts smooth; pedicels sturdy, (6–)8–11(–13) mm long, light green above, gradually reddish-infused lower down. Flowers erect, mostly glabrous to glandularpubescent, drying creamy white to light brown, twisted in bud and post-anthesis when drying; calyx consisting of 4 sepals; sepals (5–)6–10(–15) × (1.5–)2.0–3.0(–3.5) mm, light green, reddish infused towards tips, inner surface glabrous ( K. bentii subsp. bentii ) or glandular-pubescent ( K. bentii subsp. somalica ), fleshy and remaining so when in fruit, free or hardly fused below for usually <1mm, elongated-triangular to linear-lanceolate, acute-tipped, contrasting against basal greenish white part of corolla tube, not clasping the corolla tube lower down, later often more prominently divergent; corolla 30–40 mm long, narrow, in bud distinctly and tightly twisted apically, outer surface glabrous ( K. bentii subsp. bentii ) or glandular-pubescent ( K. bentii subsp. somalica ); corolla tube 20–30 mm long, bright pure white, more rarely pinkish white-infused, lower part of outside of tube usually gradually but distinctly light green-infused from below, somewhat rounded-4-angled, enlarged below, longitudinally narrowing towards mouth; lobes 12–16 × 7– 8 mm, bright pure white, ovate to lanceolate-ovate, acute-tipped, minutely mucronate apically, usually erect to erectly spreading, more rarely recurved, slightly longitudinally rolled in along margins, somewhat twisted to wavy towards apex. Stamens 8, inserted in two distinct ranks high up in tube, four (upper rank) slightly exserted and clearly visible at corolla mouth; filaments 1–2 mm long, light green, thin; anthers 1.0–1.5 × 0.3–0.4 mm, yellow, oblong to ovate, apical gland not observed. Pistil consisting of 4 carpels; carpels 6–9 mm long, light green, ovate-lanceolate, slender, attenuate into styles; styles 12–15 mm long, greenish yellow, thin; stigmas minutely capitate, whitish green; scales 6–7 mm long, white, linear, tapering to unindented tip. Follicles 10–15 mm long, shiny light green, remaining so for a long time, eventually drying dull light to dark brown, then brittle, grass spikelet-like, splitting longitudinally, sharply recurved like a peeled banana at tips, enveloped in dry, papery, creamy white to light brown remains of corolla, calyx remaining fleshy, later drying, dry styles wiry, initially persistent. Seeds 1.25–1.50(–1.75) mm long, reddish brown to dark brown, markedly banana-shaped-curved, less frequently ovate-cylindrical, usually distinctly cap-like apiculate at one end, longitudinally wrinkled-striated. Chromosome number: unknown.