Volume 11 > Part 2 > Year 2012 > Page 115 > Araceae > Aglaonema

6. Aglaonema nitidum (Jack) Kunth

Enum. Pl. 3: 56. 1841; Schott, Syn. Aroid.: 122–123. 1856 & Prodr. Syst. Aroid.: 302–303. 1860; Engl. in A.DC. & C.DC., Monogr. Phan. 2: 438. 1879; Nicolson, Smithsonian Contr. Bot. 1: 33–37, fig. 7 & 13. 1969.— Calla nitida Jack, Malayan Misc. 1(1): 24. 1820. Plate XI.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Medium to large, somewhat robust, pachycaul or decumbent, evergreen herb, to 2 m tall. Stem erect or with lower part reclining on ground in larger plants, 0.5–5 cm thick. Leaves several to rather many together, usually restricted to the terminal portion of stems in larger plants; petioles deeply channelled, (8–)11–26(–29) cm long; petiolar sheath extending to the petiole tip, margins scarious; leaf blade narrowly elliptic to narrowly oblong or oblanceolate, 11–50 by 4–20 cm, base cuneate to attenuate, rarely broadly acute, apex acuminate to broadly acute or shortly acuminate, apiculate, coriaceous, usually plain green, sometimes with grey variegation either in bars following the venation or in rather irregularly scattered blotches; venation barely or not differentiated in fresh and dry material but sometimes primary veins weakly differentiated into 5–9 or more. Inflorescences 2–5 together; peduncle 5–21 cm long, equalling or surpassing the subtending petiole; spathe oblong, 3–8.5 cm, decurrent for 4–20 mm, white at anthesis, becoming green during fruiting, persistent until fruit full-sized but still green, then marcescent; spadix cylindrical, equalling or slightly exceeding spathe, 1.3–7 cm, stipitate; stipe 0.2–0.9 cm long; pistillate flower zone (0.2–)0.5–1 cm long with 16–37 flowers; staminate flower zone 1.1–6 by ca 1.5 cm, white. Fruits ellipsoid, green, changing to white then pink and finally red.

Thailand : SOUTH-WESTERN: Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan; PENINSULAR: Ranong, Surat Thani, Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trang, Satun, Narathiwat.

Distribution : Peninsular Malaysia south to Sumatra and Java, and west to Borneo.

Ecology : Lowland to upper hill evergreen gallery forests wet or dry evergreen forests, peat swamp forests.

Vernacular : Cha ngot khao (ชะงดเขา), hora (โหรา)(Peninsular); bon lin thing (บอนลิ้นทิง), hua klak (หัวกลัก)(Trang); hat dong (หัดดง)(Krabi); o phon (อ้อพน)(Nakhon Si Thammarat); ratsami ngoen (รัศมีเงิน), rio ngoen (ริ้วเงิน).

Notes: A distinctive species that is immediately identifiable in the field by the large smooth leaves with the primary lateral veins very obscure. Herbarium specimens are sometimes misidentified as the much less common Aglaonema cochinchinense but are readily separable by the scarious (not membranous) margins to the petiolar sheath, the larger (longer) spathes and generally much more robust habit. There has been some considerable confusion in herbaria between A. nitidum and A. simplex, although the latter is readily identifiable by the thinly textured leaves with strongly differentiated primary lateral veins and a spathe limb caducous at the onset of staminate anthesis.

Populations of Aglaonema nitidum in peatswamp forest in southern Peninsular Thailand (and across the border in Malaysia) are almost always silver-grey variegated adjacent to the primary veins. These plants equate to A. nitidum f. curtisii.

See Nicolson (1969) for the complex typification details.