Volume 11 > Part 2 > Year 2012 > Page 143 > Araceae > Amorphophallus

10. Amorphophallus carneus Ridl.

J. Straits Branch Roy. Asiat. Soc. 41: 47. 1903 (‘carnea’) & Fl. Malay Penins. 5: 94. 1925 (‘carnosus’). Plate XXI: C–D.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Tuber subglobose, 2–10 by 2–7 cm, smooth, producing annual, large, shortly elongate offsets, these thickening to the apex, to ca 5 by 3 cm; petiole 20–80 by 1–2 cm, smooth, dirty white, greyish green, pinkish white, or reddish with reddish brown or very dark brown spots; leaf blade 30–80 cm, rachises winged in the distal half; leaflets elliptic-lanceolate, 6–25 by 2–9 cm, long acuminate, adaxially glossy green, main veins impressed. Inflorescence long pedunculate; peduncle appearance as petiole, 10–30 cm by 5–10 mm; spathe triangular-ovate, 9–15 by 8–11 cm, obtuse or acute, exterior pale brownish-whitish towards the base with a pinkish flush and with blackish brown spots, interior off-white with pale brownish veins, base within bearing many small, punctiform or slightly longitudinally elongate warts; spadix shortly stipitate, or sessile, shorter than, equalling or slightly longer than spathe, 8–15.5 cm long; stipe to ca 5 mm; pistillate flower zone cylindrical, 1–2.5 cm by ca 7–12 mm, flowers congested or more distant; ovaries strongly depressed, angular in cross-section, 1–1.5 by 3–4 mm, pale green; style short, 0.5 by 1.5 mm, pale green; stigma large, disciform, slightly angular in cross-section, 1 by 3.5 mm, with 2–4 very shallow or more distinct hemispherical lobes, surface verruculose, dirty brown; staminate flower zone cylindrical or slightly obconical, 3.5–8 by 0.7–1.4 cm, flowers congested or slightly distant; staminate flowers (1–)2–5(–6)-androus; stamens white; appendix short, fusiform-conical, obtuse, 2–6 by 1–2 cm, pinkish or white, smooth, the base shallowly grooved. Fruit not seen.

Thailand : PENINSULAR.

Distribution : N Peninsular Malaysia (type).

Ecology : Limestone rocks.

Vernacular : Buk kap poet (บุกกาบเปิด)(Peninsular).

Notes: Amorphophallus carneus resembles A. excentricus from southern Thailand and Pulau Langkawi, the latter differing mainly in having smaller offsets and a larger, especially broader appendix with more prominent grooves, often running its entire length, or with a network of shallow grooves. The adaxial surface of the leaflets of A. excentricus is dull green as opposed to glossy green in A. carneus. The distribution and extreme morphological similarity of these two species suggests that they may represent one and the same taxon but more material is necessary to decide upon this.