Volume 16 > Part 2 > Year 2023 > Page 362 > Zingiberaceae > Amomum

6. Amomum exertum (Scort.) Škorničk. & Hlavatáwfo-0001426291

Taxon 67(1): 19. 2018.— Cyphostigma exertum Scort., Nuovo Giorn. Bot. Ital. 18: 310. 1886.— Elettariopsis exerta (Scort.) Baker, Fl. Brit. India 6: 251. 1892.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Clump-forming herb. Leafless sheaths 2; ligule ca 2 mm, glabrous, apex bilobed; blades 2–3, elliptic, 8–25 by 5–12 cm, glabrous, base cuneate-attenuate, apex distinctly caudate, cauda ca 1.5 cm long; petiole ca 4 cm, channelled. Inflorescence with flowers in a head, ca 8 cm long; peduncle ca 2 cm long; bracts 1–1.5 cm long, apex acute; bracteoles ovate, 0.5–1 mm long. Flower sessile; ovary ca 3 by 2.5 mm; epigynous glands 2, ca 4 mm long; calyx white, 2–2.2 cm long, apex tridentate; floral tube white, ca 2.5 cm long, corolla lobes ovate-oblong, 1.5 by 0.5 cm, dorsal one wider than laterals, apex cucullate; lateral staminodes absent; labellum orbicular, ca 3 by 2 cm, concave, white with reddish base and yellow middle, base shortly clawed, 5–9 mm long, apex entire; stamen: filament 3–5 mm long; anther ca 5 mm long, anther crest triangular, entire, ca 6 by 5 mm, obliquely reflexed, incurved.

Thailand : PENINSULAR: Phatthalung (Khao Banthat NP), Narathiwat (Phu Khao Thong, Bala Forest).

Distribution : Indonesia (Sumatra), Peninsular Malaysia (type).

Ecology : Evergreen forests.

Notes: The plant often has two or three leaves, may form pseudostems, and is usually not as tall in disturbed forests where the juveniles re-emerge and are similar in size to Amomum curtisii. Apart from the dull finish, the leaves are strongly plicate, while those of A. curtisii are smooth and not prominently veined. The leaves of both are coriaceous. The inflorescence is often long exserted from the leaf litter but the flowers are otherwise quite typical of the genus.