x estrelae  Gideon F.Sm. 2020

Parentage : Kalanchoe luciae x K. sexangularis.

The hybrid is intermediate between its parents. The maroon to crimson red leaf colour as well as the decussate leaf arrangement are inherited from both parents. The hybrid is somewhat variable, leaf margins can  be smooth as in K. luciae or shallowly scalloped as in K. sexangularis.

It differs from K. luciae by

- its leaves usually being smaller, somewhat wavy and tending to have an obovate to less round shape,

- by less densely flowered inflorescences and

- corolla tubes lacking a waxy covering.

It differs from K. sexangularis by

- more densely flowered  inflorescences and

- the uniformly light yellowish green colour of the corolla tube.

Kalanchoe x estrelae is a medium-sized biennial to short-lived perennial plant, flowering usually from winter to spring in the soughern hemisphere.

Kalanchoe 'Vivien' is a selection of the hybrid between K. luciae and K. sexangularis, i.e. K. x estrelae.

Note :

The hybrid was first published in Phytotaxa 441(2): 225-228, 2020 :

Gideon F. Smith, Kalanchoe x estrelae (Crassulaceae subfam Kalanchooideae): a new nothospecies for the hybrid between K. luciae and K. sexangularis. While the nothospecies  x estrelae is valid and correct, the simulatenously published nothovariety x estrelae is not - it does not exist at all.