Volume 11 > Part 2 > Year 2012 > Page 112 > Araceae > Aglaonema

1. Aglaonema brevispathum (Engl.) Engl.

in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV, 23Dc (Heft 64): 32, Fig.45. 1915; Gagnep. in Lecomte, Fl. Indo-Chine 6: 1125. 1942; Hu, Dansk Bot. Ark. 23: 423. 1968; Nicolson, Smithsonian Contr. Bot. 1: 19–23.— Homalomena brevispatha Engl., Bot. Tidsskr. 24: 274. 1902.— Aglaonema costatum var. brevispathum (Engl.) Jervis, Aglaonema: 25. 1980. fig. 3. 1969. Plate X: A–C.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Small to medium-sized, solitary to clump-forming herb to 30 cm tall. Stem repent and often branching, 0.5–1 cm thick. Leaves few together, each subtended by a pale green membranaceous cataphyll, this soon marcescent brown and papery, commonly clasping the petiole for most of its length; petioles 7–33 cm by 0.5–1.6 mm; petiolar sheath very short, ca 1 cm long, open; leaf blade lanceolate, rarely narrowly elliptic, 10–24 by 3.9–8 cm, base rounded or broadly acute, often unequal, apex usually acute to acuminate, coriaceous, either plain green or variegated in the form of a central white stripe, with scattered white spots; primary lateral veins 4–7 per side; higher order venation striate. Inflorescence solitary; peduncle 5.5–15.5 cm, usually ⅓–¾ petiole length, erect; spathe ovate, spreading at staminate anthesis, then closing, 1.5–3.5 cm, apex apiculate, base decurrent for 0.5–1.3 cm, white, marcescent late in fruit development; spadix ellipsoidal, 1.2–2.5 cm by ca 8 mm, equalling to slightly exceeding spathe, stipitate; stipe 2–10 mm; pistillate flower zone ca ⅕ the length of the spadix, 2–5 mm long, with fewer than 10 flowers; staminate flower zone ca ⅘ of the length of the spadix, 1–2 cm by 0.3–0.6 cm. Fruits ellipsoidal, 1.2–1.7 by 0.5–1 cm, ripening deep red.

Thailand : NORTH-EASTERN: Nong Khai; EASTERN: Ubon Ratchathani; SOUTH WESTERN: Prachuap Khiri Khan; SOUTH-EASTERN: Chanthaburi, Trat.

Distribution : Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam.

Ecology : Lowland dry dipterocarp forests, often along on river banks; 100–450 m alt.

Vernacular : Hora (โหรา)(Trat).

Notes: Aglaonema brevispathum is most similar to A. costatum but readily distinguished by the petiole-clasping cataphylls drying-persistent (vs deliquescing-degrading), proportionately longer petioles, and the leaf blade base not cordate.

As noted by Nicolson (1969), Schismatoglottis siamensis W.Bull is the oldest applicable name but is unavailable at specific rank as its transfer to Aglaonema would create a later homonym of A. siamense Engl. (1902) (= A. simplex).