Friedrich Welwitsch and his overlooked contributions to the Flora of Tropical Africa, with a discussion of the names of Kalanchoe (Crassulaceae subfam. Kalanchooideae) that should be ascribed to Welwitsch alone

Although it is widely assumed that Friedrich Welwitsch, who collected about 10,000 specimens in Angola during a seven-year period in the mid-1800s, only proposed names that were validly published by other authors in the Flora of Tropical Africa (FTA), he also provided Latin descriptions that were attached to the specimens. These descriptions were translated into English and used in FTA. Welwitsch was therefore the only author of those names. As a case study, the nomenclature of new species published in the FTA in the genus Kalanchoe (Crassulaceae subfam. Kalanchooideae) is presented. When all the internal evidence in the relevant FTA volume is taken into account, the authorship of all the Kalanchoe species names, bar one, K. welwitschii, which was published by Britten exclusively, is Welwitsch only, and not “Welwitsch ex Britten” or “Welwitsch ex Oliver” as usually cited. Kalanchoe coccinea and K. brachyloba, whose distributions extend beyond Angola, have type localities in that country, and were also based on Welwitsch’s descriptions. An itinerary of Welwitsch’s Angolan expedition and maps showing the areas where he collected in the country are provided. Type localities from where Welwitsch collected the Kalanchoe species published in FTA are placed on the map. The typification of seven Kalanchoe names is clarified, some through correcting previous designations and, where required, second-step lectotypifications.

Typification of the name Kalanchoe scapigera (Crassulaceae subfam. Kalanchooideae)

Britten (1871: 391–398), when treating the genus Kalanchoe Adanson (1763: 248) (Crassulaceae subfam. Kalanchooideae) for the Flora of Tropical Africa (FTA) project, recognised 18 species as indigenous to that part of Africa (see Oliver 1868 for the geographical coverage of the project). Six of these, 30% of the FTA kalanchoes, were based on material that Dr Friedrich [Martin Joseph] Welwitsch (5 February 1806, Maria Saal, Austria–20 October 1872, London, United Kingdom) collected while he was based in Angola (see also Figueiredo et al. 2018). In the case of four of the species, Britten (1871) explicitly linked them to Welwitsch’s manuscript names by stating “Welw. mss.” after the species names. The four species are (here and further on including the species numbers used by Britten): [#5.] K. brachyloba Welwitsch ex Britten (1871: 392); [#7.] K. platysepala Welwitsch ex Britten (1871: 393); [#13.] K. coccinea Welwitsch ex Britten (1871: 395); and [#17.] K. scapigera Welwitsch ex Britten (1871: 397). One other species, [#15.] K. velutina Welwitsch (1871: 396), was described by Welwitsch and a further species, [#10.] K. welwitschii Britten (1871: 394), was named in honour of Welwitsch by Britten, based on material collected by Welwitsch. Welwitsch also provided voucher material for the occurrence of the widespread [#4.] K. laciniata (Linnaeus 1753: 430) De Candolle (1802: tab. 100), [#11.] K. crenata (Andrews 1797: tab. 21) Haworth (1812: 109), and [#16.] K. glandulosa Hochstetter ex Richard (1847: 312) in Angola (Britten 1871).

Francis Wall Oliver 1864-1951

It was to the Herbarium House on the left-hand side of the main entrance to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, that Daniel Oliver came to reside when he was appointed Keeper of the Herbarium in 1864. On 10 May of that year Francis Wall Oliver had been born at Richmond. His mother was Hanna Wall of Sheffield, his father, a member of the Society of Friends, was a distinguished taxonomist, responsible for the first three volumes of the Flora of Tropical Africa, who was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1863 and he preceded Francis as Quain Professor of Botany at University College, a position which Daniel occupied from 1861-1888 till he was succeeded by his son Francis as Lecturer at the early age of twenty-four.