Volume 11 > Part 2 > Year 2012 > Page 152 > Araceae > Amorphophallus

21. Amorphophallus haematospadix Hook.f.

Fl. Brit. India 6: 517. 1893; Ridl., Mat. Fl. Malay Penins.: 14. 1907; Engl. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV, 23C (Heft 48), 89 1911; Ridl., Fl. Malay Penins. 5: 9. 1925. Plate XXIV: C–D.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Tuber depressed globose or subglobose, 2–12 by 2–9 cm producing few annual offsets, these globose, fusiform or obovate, ca 5 by 2 cm. Leaf solitary; petiole uniformly green or olive-green, smooth, 50–85 by 1–3 cm; leaf blade 60–80 cm, rachises broadly winged, except the most proximal parts; leaflets lanceolate, 7–26 by 2–6.5 cm, acuminate, leathery, adaxially dark green, moderately glossy, venation very dense, secondary veins very closely spaced. Inflorescence long pedunculate; peduncle appearance as petiole, 17–40 cm by ca 8 mm; spathe elongate triangular, 8–21 by 4–7 cm, apiculate, margins of limb strongly reflexed, limb on both sides creamy to yellowish white, base exterior creamy or yellowish white, suffused towards the base with pale purplish green, interior dark purple, base within bearing transverse ridges, in between with or without small, punctiform warts; spadix sessile, slightly longer than spathe, occasionally shorter, 9–22.5 cm long; pistillate flower zone shortly cylindrical, 7–10 cm by 6–15 cm, flowers congested; ovaries globose, ca 2.5 by 2.5 mm, creamy white; style slender, 2–3 by 0.5 mm, reddish brown; stigma subglobose, 0.5 by 0.6–0.8 mm, entire or 2-lobed, verruculose, dark grey, lobes rounded; staminate flower zone cylindrical or slightly obconical, 7–15 by 1.3–2.5 cm, flowers congested; staminate flowers 3–4-androus; stamens dull dark blackish purple; appendix cylindrical-clavate, 8–19.5 by 1–2 cm, basal half terete, upper half slightly fusiform and slightly laterally compressed, apex rounded, glossy or dull reddish to dark greyish black with a faint reddish purple hue, base with or without several diamond-shaped, flattened staminodes, some of these with a small conical process. Fruit not seen.

Thailand : PENINSULAR: Satun (cult. R.B.G.Kew – type of Amorphophallus siamensis: Kerr s.n., holotype -K).

Distribution : Peninsular Malaysia (type of Amorphophallus haematospadix – see below), Indonesia (Sumatra?).

Ecology : Limestone.

Vernacular : Buk mueang tai (บุกเมืองใต้)(Peninsular).

Notes: Amorphophallus haematospadix cannot easily be mistaken for any other species. The presence of the red, clavate appendix and the transverse ridges on the interior of the base of the spathe are unique in the genus, as is the contrast between the dark appendix and the bright pale spathe. After the spathe opens, a long period starts during which the appendix elongates several centimetres and continues to produce a faint but distinct banana-like scent from its upper half.

In March 1892 Curtis collected this species on Ko Tarutao (‘Trutow Island’), Thailand (Curtis 2816) and presumably sent a living plant to K, which then flowered in June of that same year and served as the type of the species. No other collections of this species by Curtis are known from earlier dates. It is therefore probable that the type plant was collected on Ko Tarutao and not Penang, as is stated on the type-sheet label with a questionmark.

The presence of this species in Sumatra cannot be ruled out entirely, especially since many species from N Sumatra are imperfectly known.