Kalanchoe olivacea Dalzell

Nandikar, Mayur D., Shinde, Rohini A., Noltie Abstract, Henry J. & India, Peninsular, 2019, Taxonomy and typification of Kalanchoe olivacea and K. bhidei (Crassulaceae), Rheedea 29 (3), pp. 197-208 : 198-202

Kalanchoe olivacea Dalzell in Dalzell & Gibson, Bombay Fl. 313. 1861. Lectotype (designated here): Dapuri Drawing, no. 34, collection of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (reproduced in Noltie, 2002). Epitype (designated here): INDIA, Maharashtra, Satara, Panchgani (along the cliff above the Bazar), 16.11.1902, R.K. Bhide 1067 (K, K001325248 !; iso BSI!). FigS. 1–3

Erect to decumbent, perennial, succulent, green to olive (turning chestnut) at maturity, tufted herb. Stems 15 to 60 cm tall, jointed, glabrous, internodes and nodes distinct. Leaves caducous (fallen by fruiting stage), decussate, proximal leaves subsessile, distal sessile; lamina ovate to lanceolate, or oblanceolate, 1–10 × 0.5–4 cm, succulent, reduplicate, or often conduplicate, glabrous, olive to khaki or peach to terracotta, base cuneate to attenuate, margins usually crenate, distal leaves crenate to dentate to entire, apex acute to obtuse. Inflorescence terminal or supra-axillary of 3–6 compound cymes; cymes 2–4-flowered, 4–5(–7) cm long; peduncles 0.2–1.5 cm long, glandular hairy, olive to vinaceous, bracteate; bracts fleshy, supra-axillary, lanceolate to falcate, c. 0.2 × 0.5 cm, vinaceous, glandular hairy; bracteoles similar to bracts, occasionally subulate, occasionally adhering to small, underdeveloped flowers. Flowers erect, pedicellate; pedicels 0.5–0.7(–1) cm long, glandular hairy, olive to vinaceous, buds obpyriform to pandurate. Calyx lobes free (fused inconspicuously at base), lanceolate, equal, c. 0.6 × 0.2 cm, apex acuminate, usually outwardly curved, densely glandular hairy, pink to fawn or olive. Corolla 1.7–2 cm long, densely to sparsely glandular hairy without, sparsely hairy within (at least at lobes); tube obpyriform, 1.2–1.5 cm long, angular-fluted, streaked with green, pink and white; lobes white, spreading, lanceolate, c. 0.5 × 0.3 cm, acuminate to caudate. Stamens 8, 2-rowed, slightly obdiplostemonous, the longer antipetalous, 1.2– 1.6 cm long, included in corolla tube, the shorter between the lobes, 0.8–1.2 cm long; filaments adherent to the corolla tube, free at 1/3 part, filiform, 0.3–0.5 cm; anthers ellipsoid, basifixed, lemon, inconspicuously two lobed. Nectar scales linear, 0.3–0.4 cm, usually bifid, attached at ovary base. Pistils 4, obclavate, c. 0.8 cm long; ovary narrowly ovoid, green, c. 0.4 cm long; style conspicuous, c. 0.3 cm, green to white, glabrous; stigma simple. Follicles narrowly ellipsoid, c. 0.7 cm long, glabrous, acrocidally dehiscent, fuscous, covered with the persistent, glandular, khaki corolla tube and calyx. Seeds numerous, ellipsoid, c. 1 × 1 mm, carunculate, testasulcate, fuscous to khaki.

Flowering & fruiting: Flowering starts in October, peaks in December, and is followed by fruiting until February.

Habitat & distribution: Grows in rock crevices and along the edges of vertical cliffs of basalt rocky plateaus fully exposed to the sun; also found in rocky terrain on hilly slopes; between 700 and 1200 m above sea level. Kalanchoe olivacea is endemic to the Western Ghats: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The collections from Kerala: Palakad and Idukki districts ( Sasidharan, 1999, 2002) and Tamil Nadu: Anamalai, Attakatti Hills and Coimbatore ( Gamble, 1919; Singh et al., 2011), and Dindigul ( Soosairaj et al., 2016) represent the southern most distribution of K. olivacea . However, its occurrence in Tirunelveli district ( Manickam et al., 2008a, 2008b) is doubtful — the illustration shows a glabrous inflorescence and flowers and the plant is therefore more likely to be referred to Kalanchoe floribunda var. glabra C.B.Clarke or K. bhidei .

Conservation status: The species might possibly occur elsewhere in Peninsular India, but on the data presently available, with a calculated area of occupancy of 20,000 km 2, and extent of occurrence of 34,645.170 km 2 in GEOCAT ( Bachman et al., 2011), we evaluate the conservation status of K. olivacea as Least Concern (LC). No particular threats have been observed in the present studies.

Specimens examined: INDIA, Karnataka, Belgaum district, North of the Toorquary stage bungalow, s.d., Ritchie 330 [cited under K. brasiliensis by C.B. Clarke] (E!); Biligirirangan hills, Mysore district, 01.02.1971, R. Raghvendra Rao 1256 (JCB digital image!); Chikkaballpui, 08.01.1958, B.S. Parishwad 31100 (CAL!); Devagiribetta top, 14.07.1962, A.S. Rao 80021 (CAL!). Maharashtra district, Satara, Panchgani (along the cliff above the Bazar), s.d., s.coll. s.n. (BSI!) has an apparently recent, and certainly erroneous, anonymous pencil annotation ‘used by Dalzell to describe K. olivacea ’, it is probably one of the R.K. Bhide collections from Panchgani and is certainly not Dalzell’s; Ibid., s.d., L.D. Garade s.n. (BSI!); Pune district, Sinhagad (as ‘Singhar’), 29.11.1905, annotated and cited by Cooke (1903) probably collected by Nairne (BSI!); Panchgani, W. Ghats, on Table Land, 11.1918, 1310 m, L.J. Sedgwick & T.R.D. Bell 792/4694 (CAL!); Ibid., 12.1920, L.J. Sedgwick 7768 (K!); Panchgani, 20.11.2017, M.D. Nandikar 1760 (BSI!, CAL!, NGCPR!); Junnar, 24.07.2015, M.D. Nandikar s.n. (NGCPR!). Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore district, Top to Konnamalai, 15.01.1963, C.P. Sreemadhavan 392 (MH!); Dindigul district, Thonimalai, Kannivadi, 1370 m, 26.01.2015, S. Soosairaj & P. Raja 2030 (RHT digital image!).

Notes: Kalanchoe olivacea can be recognized by its olive-coloured leaves, few-flowered, glandular-hairy, compound cymes, distinctly obpyriform to pandurate buds, larger, lanceolate corolla lobes with acuminate to caudate apex. Besides its similarity to K. bhidei ( Table 1), it also shares some characters, including glandular hairs, with K. laciniata , but that species can be differentiated by its pinnately dissected leaves and yellow flowers.

Figures

Fig. 1. KalaNCHOE OlivaCEa DaLZELLA. Habitat;b. Habit;c. LEavES;d. Inflorescence;e. Flowers;f. Dissected flower with obdiplostemonous stamens:g. Pistils with linear nectar scales; h. Infructescence (Photographs: Mayur D. Nandikar).

Fig. 2. Drawing of KalaNCHOE OlivaCEa with Dalzell’s annotation bottom centre, and Gibson’s bottom right, designated here as Lectotype (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh).

Fig. 3. Epitype of KalaNCHOE OlivaCEa Dalzell (K001325248) [© The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew].