Kalanchoe daigremontiana Raymond-Hamet & Perrier de la Bâthie (1914: 128)

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 : 176

2. Kalanchoe daigremontiana Raymond-Hamet & Perrier de la Bâthie (1914: 128) ( Fig. 2 ).

Type:— MADAGASCAR. [Western] Madagascar. Toliara province. Ouest Madagascar. Mont Androhiboalava, Marosavoha (gneiss), Isalo, près Benenitra, [Mount Androhibo[a]lava, Marosavoha, [on] gneiss, Isalo, near Benenitra], July 1910, [J.M.]H.[A.] Perrier de la Bâthie 11798 (lectotype P barcode P00374130! [Image of the specimen available for inspection online at http://coldb.mnhn.fr/catalognumber/mnhn/p/p00374130]), lectotype designated by Boiteau & Allorge-Boiteau (1995: 94 [not p. 76 as cited by Smith & Shtein 2021b: 246]), ‘holotype’ corrected to lectotype by Smith & Shtein (2021b: 246).

Epitype:— MADAGASCAR. [Southwestern] Madagascar. Toliara province. Provenant Fiherenana, a fleuri dans mon jardin, juin 1925, [J.M.]H.[A.] Perrier de la Bâthie 17290 (epitype P barcode P00431084! [Image available for inspection online at http://coldb.mnhn.fr/catalognumber/mnhn/p/p00431084]), epitype designated by Smith & Shtein (2021b: 245).

Iconography:— Guillot Ortiz et al. (2015), Gallo (2019), Smith & Figueiredo (2023).

Secondary distribution:— Italy = listed for Sicily (Stromboli and Vulcano islands) ( Di Gristina et al. 2021), but the first report would be that of Domina & Mazzola (2008) for Vulcano; Calabria = Spampinato et al. (2022); and Sardinia = Podda et al. (2012 [Appendix]), Bacchetta et al. (2009: 49), and Puddu et al. (2016); Tuscany: Gallo (2019) as naturalised. Spain: Randall (2017) for Canary Islands, and for Catalonia cited by Saez & Aymerich (2021), Guillot Ortiz et al. (2015), and Gómez-Bellver et al. (2020). Morocco = Fennane (2018). Portugal = listed by Almeida (2012) and Seebens et al. (2021). Malta = grown and naturalised(?) ( Mifsud 2002 –2022). France (Corsica) = Puddu et al. (2016) as a casual neophyte. Algeria = cited by the African Plant Database (2024, https://africanplantdatabase.ch/en/ nomen/specie/140257/kalanchoe-daigremontiana-raym--hamet-h-perrier) as cultivated, also cited by Meddour et al. (2020) as an epoecophyte, i.e., as “plants only established in ruderal and/or cultivated habitats”. Tunisia = cited by the African Plant Database (2024, https://africanplantdatabase.ch/en/nomen/specie/140257/kalanchoe-daigremontianaraym--hamet-h-perrier), also as cultivated, and cited in Dobignard & Chatelain (2011) as naturalised. Poland = escaped from a greenhouse ( Galera & Ratynska 1999), cited by Randall (2017).

[Also in Argentina, Caribbean, Macaronesia (Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Madeira), Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, U.S.A.]

Notes:— Kalanchoe daigremontiana and K. × houghtonii have been confused for a long time. For example, it is likely that some previous reports, such as that of Maire (1977: 266–268, Fig. 95), might have referred to K. × houghtonii , rather than to K. daigremontiana . Kalanchoe daigremontiana is one of the parents of K. × houghtonii , with K. delagoensis being the other parent.

Swingle (1934: 73) referred to K. daigremontiana as “the easiest plant in the world to propagate”. Interestingly though, its conservation status in Madagascar, where it is indigenous, has been recorded as “Endangered” ( Manjato et al. 2022: 478).

Figures

FIGURE 2. At maturity the leaves of Kalanchoe daigremontiana are often peltate with the basal blade ‘wings’ usually stretching well beyond the point of attachment of the petiole to the stem. The leaf blades of the species are variously and irregularly purplish-, pinkish-, or brownish-mottled, especially abaxially. The mottling sharply contrasts against a light green to creamy-green background. (Photograph: Gideon F. Smith).