e-Flora of Thailand

Volume 11 > Part 2 > Year 2012 > Page 117 > Araceae > Aglaonema

9. Aglaonema simplex (Blume) Blume

Rumphia 1: 152. 1837; Schott, Syn. Aroid.: 122. 1856 & Prodr. Syst. Aroid.: 305. 1860; Engl. in A.DC. & C.DC., Monogr. Phan. 2: 439. 1879; Engl. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV, 23Dc (Heft 64): 22–23. 1915; Gagnep. in Lecomte, Fl. Indo-Chine 6: 1125. 1942; Hu, Dansk Bot. Ark. 23: 424. 1968; Nicolson, Smithsonian Contr. Bot. 1: 40–46. 1969; Li & Boyce in H.Li. Et al., Fl. China 23: 23. 2010.— Caladium simplex Blume, Catalogus: 103. 1823. Plate XII.


Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.



Synonyms & Citations :

Caladium princeps Kunth, Enum. Pl. 3: 55. 1841.
Aglaonema schottianum Miq., Fl. Ned. Ind. 3: 216. 1856.
Aglaonema malaccense Schott, Bonplandia 7(3): 30. 1859.— A. schottianum var. malaccense (Schott) Engl. In Engl., Pflanzenr. IV, 23Dc (Heft 64): 21. 1915.
Aglaonema longicuspidatum Schott, Prodr. Syst. Aroid.: 304. 1860.
Aglaonema propinquum Schott, Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi 1: 280. 1864.
Aglaonema fallax Schott ex Engl. In A.DC. & C.DC., Monogr. Phan. 2: 439. 1879.
Aglaonema birmanicum Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 6: 529. 1893.
Aglaonema nicobaricum Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 6: 530. 1893.— A. simplex f. nicobaricum (Hook.f.) Jervis, Aglaonema: 34. 1980.
Aglaonema angustifolium N.E.Br., Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1895: 18. 1895.— A. schottianum f. angustifolium (N.E.Br.) Engl. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV, 23Dc (Heft 64): 20. 1915.— A. simplex f. angustifolium (N.E.Br.) Jervis, Aglaonema: 34. 1980.
Aglaonema tenuipes Engl., Bot. Tidsskr. 24: 275. 1902.
Aglaonema siamense Engl., Bot. Tidsskr. 24: 275. 1902.
Aglaonema angustifolium var. undulatum Ridl., Mat. Fl. Malay Penins.: 21. 1907.
Aglaonema schottianum var. genuinum Engl. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV, 23Dc (Heft 64): 20. 1915, nom. inval.
Aglaonema schottianum var. brownii Engl. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV, 23Dc (Heft 64): 21. 1915.
Aglaonema schottianum var. winkleri Engl. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV, 23Dc (Heft 64): 21. 1915.
Aglaonema borneense Engl. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV, 23Dc (Heft 64): 22. 1915.
Aglaonema subfalcatum Engl. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV, 23Dc (Heft 64): 23. 1915.
Aglaonema simplex var. macrophyllum Engl. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV, 23Dc (Heft 64): 23. 1915.
Aglaonema pierreanum Engl., in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV, 23Dc (Heft 64): 24. 1915.
Aglaonema alpinum Elmer, Leafl. Philipp. Bot. 10: 3611. 1938, no latin descr.
Aglaonema nieuwenhuisii Engl. ex Alderw. Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg, sér. 3, 4: 320. 1922.— A. simplex f. nieuwenhuisii (Engl. Ex Alderw.) Jervis, Aglaonema: 34. 1980.


Description : Medium, slender to somewhat robust, sub-pachycaul to suffruticose or decumbent, evergreen herbs. Stem erect, 15–120 cm tall, 0.4–1.7(–2.5) cm thick. Leaves several to rather many together, often clustered towards the shoot tips in larger plants; petioles 4.3–21.5 cm long; petiolar sheath with a membranous margin; leaf blade narrowly oblong, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, occasionally linear, elliptic or ovate, 10–35 by 1.9–25 cm, base often unequal or oblique, obtuse, rounded or subtruncate, rarely acute or subcordate; apex often apiculate, acuminate, sometimes abruptly or gradually acuminate; primary lateral veins strongly differentiated, 3–14 per side; interprimary veins much less prominent, blade plain green, never variegated but the shade of green varying markedly between populations, thinly leathery. Inflorescences 1–6 together; peduncle 4–12 cm; spathe oblong-ovate, often apiculate, inflating at pistillate anthesis, then soon caducous at onset of staminate anthesis, 1.8–6.5 cm, decurrent for 3–15 mm, white; spadix cylindrical, equalling or slightly exceeding spathe, 1.7–4.3 cm, stipitate; stipe 2–12 mm; pistillate flower zone 3–10 mm long, with 12–38 flowers; staminate flower zone 1.5–3.8 by 0.5 cm, white, separated from the pistillate zone by a brief naked interstice. Fruits ovoid-ellipsoid, 1–1.7 by 0.8 cm, green, ripening through yellow to bright red.


Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai, Nan, Lampang; NORTH-EASTERN: Loei, Sakon Nakhon; EASTERN: Nakhon Ratchasima, Si Sa Ket; SOUTH-WESTERN: Kanchanaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan; CENTRAL: Suphan Buri, Sara Buri, Nakhon Nayok; SOUTH-EASTERN: Sa Kaeo, Chon Buri, Rayong, Chanthaburi, Trat; PENINSULAR: Chumphon, Ranong, Surat Thani, Phangnga, Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trang, Songkhla, Pattani, Narathiwat.


Distribution : India (Nicobar Islands) to W Maluku, SW China to Java.


Ecology : Evergreen forests, secondary forests, peat swamp forests, beach forests, occasionally on limestone or granite. 0–700 m alt.


Vernacular : Wan ngot hin (ว่านงดหิน)(Trang); wan khan mak (ว่านขันหมาก)(Central); phrom tin sung (พรหมตีนสูง)(Chanthaburi); hora (โหรา)(Trat).


Notes: Formerly the northern Thai populations of Aglaonema simplex were treated as a separate species, A. tenuipes, based solely on the larger inflorescence size. This is not here upheld. For details of the considerable typifications involved, see Nicolson 1969.


Main
Plate XII
Aglaonema simplex (Blume) Blume