AMORPHOPHALLUS ANTSINGYENSIS

Species

Jul 11

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION:

Amorphophallus antsingyensis Bogner, Hetterscheid & Ittenbach, spec. nov.
Differt ab Amorphophallus hildebrandtii stigmate sessili, echino echinato pollinis et spatha unicolore viridula; ab Amorphophallus ankarana differt spadice breviore quam spatha.

— Type: Hetterscheid H.A.M.099-T (L, holo, spirit coll., inflorescence), cult. in Leiden Bot. Garden, 29 January 1994, orig. coll. Bogner 2077 (K, M), Madagascar, Tsingy d’Antsalova.

Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie Volume 121 (1999) P.2

SYNONYMS:

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: N/A

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: N/A

ACCEPTED INFRASPECIFICS: N/A

DISTRIBUTION: Madagascar

CLIMATE: Unknown

ECOLOGY: In shade of primary and secondary forest, in humus pockets in the limestone rocks in karst areas. Flowers during the rainy season, alt. 100–600 m, fruiting Nov–Dec.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Tuber strongly depressed, disciform, or depressed-globose, 4–12 cm in diam., 3–7 cm high, white, seasonally producing long rhizomatous offsets. Leaf solitary, developing after flowering in same season; petiole 28–80 cm long, 0.5–3 cm in diam., smooth, pale green; lamina 24–100 cm in diam., rachises in distal parts distinctly winged; leaflets elliptic to elliptic lanceolate, 2–23 cm long, 1–5 cm in diam., long acuminate, slightly coriaceous, upper surface semiglossy bright grey-green, lower surface glossy pale green.

INFLORESCENCE:

Inflorescence developing before the leaf, solitary; peduncle 20–83 cm long, 0.6–1.3 cm in diam., smooth, pale green. Spathe erect, lanceolate, 10–25 cm long, 3–8.5 cm in diam., acute, base and limb poorly differentiated, limb narrow, upper part slightly twisted, outside pale green, inside whitish green, base outside green, spadix pale green, lowest part green and shallowly ridged, ridges branching. Spadix subsessile, shorter than spathe, 9–14 cm long; female zone cylindric, 1–1.3 cm long, 0.8–1.1 cm in diam., flowers partly congested, partly slightly distant; male zone cylindric, slightly tapering to the top, 1.8–3.3 cm long, 0.7–1 cm in diam., flowers congested; appendix cylindric, 7–9 cm long, 0.5–0.8 cm in diam., obtuse, ivory white with a faint greenish hue, shallowly rugulose, base grooved, producing an acidic smell.

Ovaries obovoid or slightly subglobose, 2–2.5 mm in diam., gradually tapering to the style (the entire pistil pyriform), glossy pale green, rounded or irregularly obtuse-angled in cross-section, bilocular, occasionally unilocular; style 0.5 mm long, 1.1 mm in diam. at the base, conic, dark green; stigma depressed, thin, circular in cross-section, 1–2 mm in diam., 0.3–0.5 mm high, with a shallow central groove, surface minutely densely scabrate, dirty whitish; male flowers consisting of 2–3 stamens (two flowers), or indeterminable; stamens 1.2–2 mm long; filaments 0.2–1 mm long, basally connate; anthers rectangular in cross-section, ca. 1.5–2.5 mm in diam., truncate, ivory-white with purplish and green pigmentation, connective broad and depressed, pores elongate, apical. Pollen inaperturate, echinate. Infructescence 60–70 days, dried spathe parts remaining or absent; fruiting part cylindric, 3–6 cm long, 2–4 cm in diam.; berries (1-)2-seeded, globose, 1.7–1.5 cm in diam., green when immature, maturing through yellow to red; seed elongate ovoid, ca. 7 mm long, 3–4 mm in diam. Chromosomes: 2n = 26.

VARIEGATED FORMS: N/A

ETYMOLOGY: The epithet of the name of the species refers to the type locality Antsingy (the name often used for Tsingy d’Antsalova).

NOTES: Tsingy of Antsalova, 30 Jan. 1990, Bogner 2077 (K, M, leaf); limestone gorge of Antsalova, flowering Oct., Bosser 18117 (P, inflor.); N of Tsianidro (west), Nov. 1952, Capuron, Leandri & Razafindratoko 1906 (P, infruct. & leaf); near Tsianidro (west), Beharaids, 26 Nov. 1952, Capuron, Leandri & Razafindratokoto 1987 (P, infruct. & leaf); limestones of Antsingy, near Amboidrano (E of Antsalova), 18 Dec. 1952, Capuron, Leandri & Razafindratokoto 2073 (P, seedling); Mahajanga (Majunga), 8 March 1942, Decary 2476 (P, leaf); Mahajanga (Majunga), Tsingy de Bemaraha, 15 Dec. 1996, Jongkind, Andriantania & Razanatosoa 3545 (WAG, infruct. & leaf); Katièje, Causse du Kelifely, Oct. 1974, Morat 4721 (P, infruct. & leaf); Antsingy near Antsalova. Bemaraha, Jan. 1975, Morat 4878 (P, young leaf); Meavarano, near Mahajanga (Majunga), 1932, Perrier de la Bâthie 12327 (P, infruct. & leaf); Belobaka, 5 Jan. 1921, Poisson 124 (P, leaf).