Volume 11 > Part 2 > Year 2012 > Page 290 > Araceae > Schismatoglottis

3. Schismatoglottis wallichii Hook.f.

Fl. Brit. India 6: 537. 1893; Ridl., Mat. Fl. Malay Penins.: 3: 33. 1907; Engl. & Krause in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV, 23Da (Heft 55): 98–100, fig. 63. 1912; Ridl., Fl. Malay Penins. 5: 112. 1925; Hay, Sandakania 7: 15, fig. 2B. 1996; Hay & Yuzammi, Telopea 9(1): 155–159. 2000.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Clump- to colony-forming, usually stoloniferous herb, sometimes with individual crowns markedly distant. Stems hapaxanthic, hypogeal. Leaves to 5 together; petiole 15–45 cm long, smooth, adaxially flattened to somewhat channelled, the angles blunt to somewhat acute, but not winged; petiolar sheath in lower ca ¼, wings persistent, membranous, straight to slightly inrolled, to ca 1 cm wide, tapering, fully attached except for ca 1 mm ligular apex; leaf blade 8–30 by 2–17 cm, very variable in shape, mostly more or less oblong-ovate, occasionally broadly ovate to oblong-lanceolate, base cuneate to obtuse, more rarely truncate to cordate with posterior lobes 0–6 cm long, mid- to very dark green and dull to somewhat glossy adaxially, paler and dull green abaxially, often variegated with a dark green central strip, or bivittate grey-green; midrib somewhat prominent abaxially; primary lateral veins impressed adaxially, prominent abaxially,(6–)10–14 on each side of the midrib, 1.5–3 cm apart; interprimary veins irregular but conspicuous, especially in larger-leaved forms; secondary venation often very inconspicuous; tertiary venation barely visible. Inflorescences (1–)2–several together, with a powerful esteric odour; peduncle mostly hidden within the subtending leaf sheath, to ca 12 cm long; spathe (4.5–)8–18 cm long; lower spathe more or less cylindrical at anthesis, green, (0.4–)1–2.5 cm diam.;spathe limb (incl. terminal mucro) about equalling the lower spathe in length, ivory to pale yellow, inflated to ca 4 cm diam. and turbinate at anthesis, slightly gaping or with the margins loosely overlapping, then abruptly caducous, the interface between the limb and the lower spathe only weakly constricted; spadix (2.5–)6–12 cm long, sessile, cylindrical to distally subclavate; pistillate flower zone about half the length of the spadix, obliquely inserted to adnate for ca ½ its length to the spathe; ovaries more or less flask-shaped, ca 1 mm tall; stigma sessile, button-like; interpistillar staminodes scattered, narrowly stalked and clavate-headed, about twice the height of the pistils, sometimes also crowded at the interface between the female and sterile zones; sterile zone between pistillate and staminate flower zones abruptly but slightly thicker than distal part of pistillate zone, cylindrical, somewhat shorter than (then hidden within lower spathe) to somewhat exceeding (then distally exposed from mouth of lower spathe, rarely completely exserted) the staminate zone, composed of columnar, flat-topped staminodes markedly dissimilar to interpistillar ones; staminate flower zone cylindrical with the apex rounded, to somewhat clavate, ca (0.3–)0.7–1 cm diam.; stamens more or less rectangular to dumbbell-shaped from above (connective reaching anther apex in the former, not in the latter), ca 0.7 mm across, the thecae impressed apically, the rims interrupted laterally by a narrow slit; appendix absent or reduced to a small cluster of columnar staminodes at the summit of the male zone apex. Fruiting spathe very narrowly urceolate to subcylindrical, to ca 5 cm long.

Thailand : PENINSULAR: Ranong.

Distribution : Malay Peninsula (type and type of Schismatoglottis wallichii var. fasciata and lectotype of S. wallichii var. oblongata), E Sumatra (types of S. conversa and S. calyptrata f.resupinata), Borneo.

Ecology : Lowland and lower montane perhumid to moist forests, often in disturbed places such as canopy gaps, or in secondary forests; to ca 1,500 m alt.

Vernacular : Bon khiao (บอนเขียว)(Ranong).

Notes: This species is extraordinarily variable in vegetative characters, ranging from stoloniferous with few-leaved crowns to clump-forming with multifoliar crowns. Leaf blade shape varies from cordato-sagittate (rare) through sagittate, subtriangular, oblong, ovate-elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, with colour ranging from dark to pale green, variegated yellow-green or grey-green or not, variegated in fasciate or spotted patterns. The unifying factor is the otherwise comparatively constant inflorescence morphology with its very distinctive long sterile zone between the female zone and the male zone which is terminal (though a few staminodes may be present at the very apex of the spadix).