Volume 16 > Part 2 > Year 2023 > Page 364 > Zingiberaceae > Amomum

7. Amomum foetidum Boonma & Saensoukwfo-1000020957

Taiwania 65(3): 364. 2020.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Creeping herb to 0.6 m tall; rhizome white inside (when fresh), fibrous, 1–1.5 cm diam.; sheathing scales ovate, 2.5–3 by 2.5–3.5 cm at base, white when young, turning brown when old, glabrous. Leafy shoots slender with 4–8 leaves; sheaths 10–19 cm long, glabrous, green, red at base; ligule 3–3.5 by 3–3.5 mm, deeply bilobed, glabrous, green, apex rounded with ciliate margin; blades oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic, (18–)24–40 cm by (7–)9–12 cm, dark green with clearly embossed veins above, green below, both surfaces glabrous, margin glabrous except for prickly hairs ca 0.2 mm long along distal ⅓ of margin, base decurrent, apex caudate 1.5–3.3 cm long; petiole 0.6–8 by ca 0.4–0.6 cm, margin entire, glabrous, green. Inflorescence arising from base of leafy shoot; peduncle to 8 by 0.5–0.6 cm; peduncular bracts 2–3 cm long; fertile bracts 4–7, ovate, ca 2.5 by 1.5–1.8 cm, apex acute, white (underground) or green (above ground), turning brown with age, glabrous; bracteoles triangular, ca 9.8 mm long, apex acute, translucent white, glabrous on both surfaces, margin entire. Flower translucent white to pale green with green at tip, 5.5–6.2 cm long; ovary subglobose, ca 3.9 by 3.8 mm, pale yellow, glabrous; style white, glabrous; stigma ca 2.65 by 2.67 mm, funnel-shaped with three obscure lobes at apex, ciliate; epigynous glands ca 6 by 1.3 mm, yellow; calyx 1.2–1.4 mm long, apex tridentate, deeply slit on one side, glabrous except slightly short-hairy at apex; floral tube 2.9–3.8 by 0.2–0.28 cm, glabrous, white with pale yellow tip, dorsal corolla lobe narrowly ovate, 1.8–2 by 0.8–1 cm, semitranslucent white with pale yellowish green apex, apex obtuse, hooded, ca 3.3 by 3.5 mm, glabrous on both surfaces, lateral corolla lobes narrowly ovate, 1.6–1.8 by 0.5–0.7 cm, semitranslucent white with very pale yellow apex, apex obtuse, glabrous on both surfaces; lateral staminodes absent; labellum obovate, ca 21.2 by ca 17.5 mm, white with yellow patch at centre extending to apex and two red lines on each side of yellow stripe from base to middle of labellum, red line 13.8–14.5 by ca 1 mm, glabrous on both surfaces; stamen: filament 4–5 mm long, 2.6–2.9 mm wide at base, 3.7–4 mm wide at apex, white with pale yellow at base, glabrous on both surfaces; anther 9.5–9.8 mm long including crest, thecae ca 4.7 mm long, pale yellow, anther crest 5–5.1 by 5–5.5 mm, almost rectangular, apex truncate and base concave, white with pale yellow at outer surface and margin, glabrous on both surfaces. Fruit not seen.

Thailand : NORTH-EASTERN: Sakon Nakhon (type: Boonma 13, holotype -KKU, isotypes -BK BKF QBG TAI).

Distribution : Endemic.

Ecology : Flowering: December–March.

Uses: Used to substitute for a species of stink bug in cooking.

Notes: Described from plants originally bought in a market in Sakon Nakhon Province and said to be widely cultivated in NE Thailand.