AMORPHOPHALLUS ANGUSTISPATHUS

Species

Jul 10

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION:

A speciebus omnibus in filamentis longis tenuis connatis differt. (“It differs from all other species by its long, slender, united (fused) filaments.”) —Typus: Kurz 2660 (CAL holo), Myanmar (Burma), Pegu Yomah, eastern and western slopes, 'Swa'.

Blumea 39: 242 (1994)

SYNONYMS:

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: N/A

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: N/A

ACCEPTED INFRASPECIFICS: N/A

DISTRIBUTION: Myanmar (Burma), Pegu Yomah, and Tharawaddy district.

CLIMATE: Unknown

ECOLOGY: It is a tuberous geophyte and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Tuber elongate, napiform, at least 11 cm long, top part thickened, 2-3 cm in diam. Leaf unknown.

INFLORESCENCE:

Inflorescence solitary, long peduncled; cataphylls up to 14 cm long; peduncle smooth, 36-43 cm long, c. 1 cm in diam. (base); spathe ovate-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, base shortly convolute, top acute, 10-14 cm long, 1.5-3 cm in diam., base inside smooth. Spadix slightly longer than the spathe, sessile, 13.5-17 cm long; female zone cylindric, c. 1 cm long, c. 0.5 cm in diam., flowers congested; male zone conic, 3-3.5 cm long, 0.6-0.8 cm in diam., flowers distant; appendix narrowly elongate-fusiform, smooth, acute, 10-13 cm long, c. 1 cm in diam. Ovaries (depressed?-)globose, diamond-shaped in cross section, c. 2 mm in diam., 2 mm high, 2-locular; stigma sessile, flattened, circular, c. 1 mm in diam. Male flowers consisting of (2) 3 or 4 (5) stamens; stamens 2.5-3 mm long;filaments entirely fused into a slender column, only the uppermost part free and spreading; column 1.5-2 mm long but in the uppermost flowers shorter to nearly absent, 0.6-1 mm in diam., base broadened; anthers at the top of the column, spreading, subglobose, 1 mm long, 1-1.5 mm in diam.; pores apical to subapical, elongate. Pollen striate.

VARIEGATED FORMS: N/A

ETYMOLOGY: The species epithet refers to the narrow shape of the spathe.

NOTES:

1. Engler (1911: 86) cited Kurz 2660 under Amorphophallus purpurascens Kurz ex Hook, f., apparently overlooking the elongate tuber and the long stalked anthers. Other differences with Amorphophallus purpurascens are the smooth inner side of the spathe base and the spadix clearly exceeding the spathe.

2. Amorphophallus angustispathus is similar to Amorphophallus longituberosus (Engl.) Engl. & Gehrm. but differs in the shape of the male flowers, the longer spadix and the sessile stigmas. The slender column resulting from the fusion of filaments is unique in Amorphophallus and has always been regarded as a valuable character to distinguish the genus Pseudodracontium N.E. Brown from Amorphophallus.

Additional specimen - Rogers 11 (CAL), Myanmar (Burma), Tharawaddy district, Konbibi Reserve, Zen Nyaungbuizen, rest-home, c. 60 m alt., 23-iv-1914.

CULTIVARS: N/A

HYBRIDS: N/A