Kalanchoe usambarensis Engl. & Raym.-Hamet

Smith, Gideon F., 2025, A review and analysis of names and designations published for species and varieties of Kalanchoe (Crassulaceae subfam. Cotyledonoideae) by Adolf Engler (1844 - 1930) between 1892 and 1913, Phytotaxa 682 (1), pp. 1-28 : 22-23

17. Kalanchoe usambarensis Engl. & Raym.-Hamet in Hamet (1913: 302).

Type:— TANZANIA. Lushoto District, an einer Felswand zwischen [on a rock wall between] Magamba und [and] Shume, 1700 m altitude, cutting received at the BGBM from the collector on 30 October 1967, material grown in the Botanical Garden where it flowered on 23 April 1969, specimen prepared on 23 April 1969 from the cultivated material, material originally collected in 1967, J. Bogner s.n., (neotype, Herb. B barcode B 10 0154722! [Image of the specimen available for examination online at https://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/B100154722]), neotype designated by Raadts (1977: 137).

Nomenclatural notes:— Raadts(1977:137) stated that J.Buchwald 145 is the holotype of the name K.usambarensis , and that J. Buchwald 304 is a paratype. In the protologue of the name K. usambarensis, Engler and Hamet , in Hamet (1913: 302), stated: “M. le Dr. J. Buchwald a récolté cette plante à Kwasassatal, dans l’Usambara, une première fois, le 17 novembre 1895, à une altitude de 1200 m (n. 145), une seconde fois, à une altitude de 1900 m (n. 304)”. [English: “Mr Dr J. [Johannes] Buchwald collected this plant at Kwasassatal [Kwamsusa], in Usambara [ Tanzania], for the first time, on 17 November 1895, at an altitude of 1200 m (J. Buchwald 145), and for the second time, at an altitude of 1900 m (J. Buchwald 304)]”. The name K. usambarensis therefore does not have a holotype, with these two specimens, J. Buchwald 145 and J. Buchwald 304, being syntypes.

By recording both these J. Buchwald specimens as “†”, Raadts (1977: 137) indicated that they have been destroyed, probably on the night of 1–2 March 1943 during the fire that followed a bombing raid on Berlin during World War II. Raadts (1977: 137) therefore designated a specimen prepared from cultivated material ( Fig. 13 ) that was originally collected by J. Bogner as neotype.

Taxonomic notes:—The name K. usambarensis is in use for an accepted species.

Biographical notes:— Polhill & Polhill (2015: 70) provide a biographical treatment of Johannes Buchwald (Berlin, Germany, 16 August 1869 – 17 March 1927, Washington, D.C., U.S. A) who collected the two syntypes of the name K. usambarensis .

Figures

FIGURE 13. The Grosses Tropenhaus (main Tropical Greenhouse) in the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum, Berlin, Germany, viewed from the Italian garden. The material from which the neotype of the name Kalanchoe usambarensis was derived would have been cultivated in one of the forerunners of this series of greenhouses. The conservatories were not destroyed during the bombing of Berlin during World War II, but by the end of the war most of the glass had been lost. This, together with the shortage of coal, lead to the destruction of the collections that were cultivated under glass. After the War the conservatories were reopened stepwise, with the Grosses Tropenhaus being the last one to be opened to the public in the late-1960s (Hans Walter Lack, personal communication by e-mail on 28 March 2020). This greenhouse, also known as the Great Pavilion, is widely regarded as an architectonic masterpiece in Art Nouveau style. Photograph taken on 13 December 2017 by Gideon F. Smith.