Kalanchoe krigeae

Description: — Annual, perennial, or biennial, few-leaved, unbranched or sparsely branched from base, glabrous, low-growing, small succulent, with erect to leaning to creeping stems, 5 – 15 (– 30) cm tall when not in flower. Stems one to few arising from the rootstock or slightly higher up, light green, bluish purple-infusion lacking, usually simple or sometimes producing obovate-leaved branchlets near base, main stems very rarely branched higher up, thin, ± herbaceous. Leaves (15 –) 20 – 45 (– 50) × (5 –) 6 – 8 mm, light green to very light glaucous, with slight bloom, generally not finely purple-dotted except when young, opposite-decussate, sessile, erectly spreading at a 30 – 45 ° degree angle, sparsely carried throughout; petiole absent; blade succulent, obovate when young, lanceolate-cymbiform to narrowly oblong-terete at maturity, often involute, then appearing channelled above, usually straight; apex rounded-obtuse or slightly pointed; base gradually tapering to a narrow insertion on the stem; margins entire. Inflorescence a corymbose cyme, (5 –) 10 – 30 (– 35) cm tall, with leaf-like bracts at nodes, bracts increasingly smaller upwards, floriferous only at the top, erect or leaning, apically sparsely branched, 1 - to few- to several-flowered, branches opposite or sometimes with only a single branch at a node, subtended by small, persistent leaf-like bracts, leafy branchlets rarely developing in axils, axis light green, generally lacking slight waxy bloom; pedicels slender, 4 – 6 (– 18) mm long. Flowers 12 – 14 mm long, erect; calyx dull green, distally reddish-infused, covered with slight bloom; sepals 4, ± 1.00 × 0.75 – 1.00 mm, ± separate, basally very slightly fused, deltoid-triangular, often blunt-tipped to rounded-acute, hardly to slightly contrasting against basal part of corolla; corolla 11 – 13 mm long, prominently enlarged basally around carpels, distinctly and tightly anti-clockwise-twisted apically after anthesis; corolla tube 10 – 12 mm long, distally consistently dull orangegreen, bluish purple infusion lacking, more strongly green-infused around ovaries, light green basally at level of sepals, 4 - angled, narrowly urceolate, strongly globose basally to 4 - angled when viewed from below, narrowing above carpels; lobes 5 – 6 × 1.5 – 2.0 mm, spreading at 45 – 90 ° angle to sigmoidally down- and upcurved, usually uniformly apricot-orange to bright orange to red, if red, sometimes orange-infused, slight yellowish-infusion in centre generally lacking, narrowly elliptic, rounded-acute to acute apically, then minutely apiculate, margins apically in-rolled, showing diurnal movement. Stamens inserted in two ranks near mouth of corolla tube, included; filaments 1 – 2 mm long, thin, yellow; anthers 0.25 – 0.30 mm long, yellow. Pistil consisting of 4 carpels; carpels ± 5 mm long, uniformly mid-green, distinct purple-infusion lacking; styles 0.75 – 1.00 mm long, yellowish green; stigmas very slightly capitate, yellowish green; scales 2.0 – 2.5 mm long, linear, light yellow. Follicles 5 – 8 mm long, light green at first, enveloped in dry, whitish remains of corolla, eventually brittle, grass spikelet-like with remains of corolla then light brownish white. Seed 0.50 – 0.75 mm long, very faintly striated, ellipsoid to more rarely somewhat banana-shaped, dark brown. Chromosome number: unknown.