Bryophyllum (from the Greek βρῦον/βρύειν bryon/bryein = sprout, φύλλον phyllon = leaf) is a group of plant species of the family Crassulaceae native to Madagascar.[1] It is a section or subgenus within the genus Kalanchoe, and was formerly placed at the level of genus.[1] This section is notable for vegetatively growing small plantlets on the fringes of the leaves; these eventually drop off and root. These plantlets arise from mitosis of meristematic-type tissue in notches in the leaves.

Bryophyllum
The "Goethe Plant", Kalanchoe pinnata, illustrated in Flora de Filipinas by Francisco Manuel Blanco
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Crassulaceae
Genus: Kalanchoe
Section: Bryophyllum
(Salisb.) Boiteau
Species

See text.

Nowadays, bryophyllums are naturalized in many parts of the tropics and subtropics, and deliberately cultivated for their attractiveness or for their interesting reproduction as a vegetative reproductive plant.

Taxonomy edit

 
Vegetative Propagation in Bryophyllum leaf
 
Kalanchoe laetivirens in the Philippines
 
Kalanchoe pinnata in Nepal

Species of Bryophyllum are nested within Kalanchoe on molecular phylogenetic analysis.[2][3] Therefore, Bryophyllum should be a section of Kalanchoe rather than a separate genus.[4][5]

The number of species within Bryophyllum varies with definitions of this section. Bryophyllum used to include not only species that produce plantlets on the leaf margin, but also many species that lack this character such as K. manginii and K. porphyrocalyx. However, the broadly defined Bryophyllum is polyphyletic.[2] Bernard Descoings redefined Bryophyllum as 26 species,[1] and molecular phylogenetic analysis shows that his definition is almost monophyletic, except that K. beauverdii (hence as well as its hybrid K. × poincarei[6] and its close relative K. schizophylla[7]) and K. delagoensis (hence as well as its hybrids K. × houghtonii[8] and K. × richaudii[6]) should be included and K. pubescens excluded.[2] Therefore, Bryophyllum comprises about 30 species:

Toxicity edit

Several species of Kalanchoe are economically important for causing cardiotoxic effects in sheep and cattle, and diseases affecting the nervous system and muscles known as krimpsiekte ("shrinking disease") or as cotyledonosis.[11] Kalanchoe pinnata may have similar chemical components, bufadienolide alkaloids.[12]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Descoings, B. (2006). "Le genre Kalanchoe (Crassulaceae): structure et définition" (PDF). Le Journal de Botanique. 33: 3–28.
  2. ^ a b c Gehrig, Hans; Gaußmann, Oliver; Marx, Harald; Schwarzott, Daniel; Kluge, Manfred (2001-04-01). "Molecular phylogeny of the genus Kalanchoe (Crassulaceae) inferred from nucleotide sequences of the ITS-1 and ITS-2 regions". Plant Science. 160 (5): 827–835. doi:10.1016/S0168-9452(00)00447-7. ISSN 0168-9452. PMID 11297779.
  3. ^ Mort, Mark E.; Soltis, Douglas E.; Soltis, Pamela S.; Francisco‐Ortega, Javier; Santos‐Guerra, Arnoldo (2001). "Phylogenetic relationships and evolution of Crassulaceae inferred from matK sequence data". American Journal of Botany. 88 (1): 76–91. doi:10.2307/2657129. ISSN 1537-2197. JSTOR 2657129. PMID 11159129.
  4. ^ Eggli, Urs, ed. (2003). Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Crassulaceae. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Science & Business Media. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-55874-0. ISBN 978-3-642-55874-0. S2CID 36280482.
  5. ^ Mort, Mark E; O'Leary, T. Ryan; Carrillo-Reyes, Pablo; et al. (December 2009). "Phylogeny and evolution of Crassulaceae: Past, present, and future". Biodiversity & Ecology. 3: 69–86.
  6. ^ a b c d e Descoings, B. (2005). "Sur quelques Kalanchoe (Crassulaceae) hybrides de Madagascar" (PDF). Le Journal de Botanique. 30: 3–18.
  7. ^ Rauh, W. (1995). "Quelques espèces intéressantes de Kalanchoe Adans. de Madagascar". Succulentes (1): 11–18.
  8. ^ a b Smith, Gideon F. (2020). "Notes on Kalanchoe ×houghtonii (Crassulaceae subfam. Kalanchooideae), an early hybrid between two species of K. subg. Bryophyllum". Haseltonia. 2019 (26): 78–85. doi:10.2985/026.026.0111. ISSN 1070-0048. S2CID 211533864.
  9. ^ Smith, Gideon F. (2020-09-21). "Taxonomy and nomenclature of Kalanchoe ×laetivirens (Crassulaceae subfam. Kalanchooideae), a further invasive nothospecies from Madagascar". Phytotaxa. 460 (1): 97–109. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.460.1.6. ISSN 1179-3163. S2CID 224934679.
  10. ^ Rauh, W. (1995). "Quelques espèces intéressantes de Kalanchoe Adanson de Madagascar: Les Kalanchoe grimpants". Succulentes (1): 11–18.
  11. ^ Welham, Marina: How Dangerous are Euphorbias? (And Others in the Family Euphorbiaceae) with some comments on dangerous plants in the families Agavaceae, Aizoaceae, Apocynaceae, Compositae, Crassulaceae, Liliaceae Archived 2007-10-01 at the Wayback Machine. The Amateur's Digest. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
  12. ^ Steyn, Pieter S & van Heerden, Fanie R. (1998): "Bufadienolides of plant and animal origin". Natural Product Reports 15(4): 397–413. doi:10.1039/a815397y PDF fulltext

External links edit