Volume 11 > Part 2 > Year 2012 > Page 314 > Araceae > Typhonium

22. Typhonium roxburghii Schott

Aroideae 1: 12. 1853; Syn. Aroid.: 18. 1856; Prodr. Syst. Aroid.: 106. 1860; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 6: 510. 1893; Ridl., Mat. Fl. Malay Penins.: 10. 1907; Engl. in Engl., Pflanzenr. IV, 23F (Heft 73): 119, Fig. 17C & D. 1920; Ridl., Fl. Malay Penins. 5: 90. 1925; Nicolson & Sivadasan, Blumea 27: 492. 1981; Sookchaloem, Thai Forest Bull., Bot. 23: 34. 1995; Li & Hett. in H.Li et al., Fl. China 23: 36. 2010.— Typhonium divaricatum var. roxburghii (Schott) Engl. in A.DC. & C.DC., Monogr. Phan. 2: 612. 1879.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Seasonally dormant herb, 10–40 cm tall. Stem a short, subglobose or globose tuberous rhizome. Leaf several together; petiole 10–35 cm long; leaf blade reniform-hastate, triangular in outline, dark green above, yellowish green below, shallowly or deeply 3-lobed, terminal lobe ovate, acuminate, (5–)9–17 by 4–14 cm wide, lateral lobes oblique ovate or long ovate, spreading. Inflorescence appearing after the leaves; peduncle creamy red with dark purple dots, 2–9 cm long; Spathe 8–18 cm long; lower spathe ovoid, 2–3.5 by 1.5 cm, outside whitish or pale green with purple stripes, inside purple; spathe limb ovate-lanceolate, abruptly tapering from below the middle, usually twisted at tip, 6–15 by 5 cm, purplish mixed with dirty green flushes or striae outside, or purple all over, inside deep rich purple; spadix subequalling the spathe; pistillate flower zone 4–5.5 mm long; ovaries ovoid, white or yellowish; stigma purple, unilocular, uniovulate; sterile interstice 1.5–2.2 cm long, lower 5–7 mm densely covered with staminodes, remainder naked; staminodes 8–9 mm long, subcylindrical, yellow or pale yellow, acute, weakly papillose, curved downward; staminate flower zone 7–12 mm long; staminate flowers consisting of 2–3 stamens, yellow; anthers sessile, opening by apical pores; appendix narrowly conical, 12–15 cm long, 3–4 mm diam. at the base, dark purple, base truncate with a pale red stipe of ca 2 mm long. Fruits ovoid or ellipsoid, 1-seeded, pale green at first, white when mature.

Thailand : NORTHERN: (records); PENINSULAR: Phangnga.

Distribution : Widespread throughout tropical and subtropical Asia, from India (type, and of Typhonium schottii) to Taiwan, south to Java (types of T. divaricatum and T. javanicum), Borneo (type of T. mottleyanum), east through Maluku (type of T. amboinense) to New Guinea. For further information on typifications, refer to Nicolson and Sivadasan, Blumea 27: 483–497. 1981.

Ecology : Ruderal, sometimes on limestone; ca 50 m alt.

Vernacular : Taphit pa (ตะพิดป่า)(Phangnga); bon doi (บอนดอย)(Shan-Mae Hong Son); bon baeo (บอนแบ้ว)(Northern).