AMORPHOPHALLUS CRISPIFOLIUS
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION:
Amorphophallus crispifolius A. Galloway, A. Ongsakul, & P. Schmidt sp.nov.
Type: from a plant cultivated by A. Galloway (orig. coll.: LAOS, Khammouane Province, in shaded areas, A. Galloway), 12 June 2006, Galloway AGA-1747-01-T (holotype, QBG, spirit collection.)
Photo by Alan Galloway
SYNONYMS:
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: N/A
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: N/A
ACCEPTED INFRASPECIFICS: N/A
OTHER: N/A
DISTRIBUTION: Laos
CLIMATE: N/A
ECOLOGY: N/A.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Tuber elongate, napiform, 7–10 cm long, 2–3 cm wide, creamy white. Leaf solitary; petiole 20–25 cm long, 0.5– 0.75 cm in diam., faintly longitudinally ridged, pale green; lamina, up to 45 cm wide, clearly ternate, rachises barely winged; leaflets several discrete on each rachis, elliptic, tip acuminate, base sometimes decurrent, 17–21 cm long, 3–6 cm wide, upper side light green, lower side paler, edges wavy.
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescence solitary, long-pedunculate; peduncle faintly longitudinally ridged, pale green with darker stripes, or dark gray, 10–17 cm long, 0.5 cm in diam.; spathe erect or concave, cymbiform, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, base convolute, top acute-acuminate, 9.5–12 cm long, 3 cm in diam., outside brownish gray to gray with darker venation, inside creamy white, inside base with shallow warts. Spadix shorter than spathe, sessile, 7.5– 8 cm long; female zone cylindric, 1 cm long, 0.5–0.75 cm in diam., flowers congested; male zone cylindric, 5 cm long, 0.5–0.75 cm in diam., flowers congested; sterile zone between male and female zone cylindric, 1 cm long, 0.5–0.75 cm in diam., staminodes congested; appendix short conical, 1–1.5 cm long, 0 .5–0.75 cm in diam. at base, smooth, obtuse, white. Ovaries depressed, upper part strongly truncate, ca. 2 mm in diam., ca. 1 mm high, pale green, unilocular; style indistinct; stigma disciform, entirely to shallowly 3lobed, slightly grooved between lobes, ca. 0.3 mm high, ca. 1 mm in diam., verrucate, greenish-white. Male flower consisting of (1–) 4–5 stamens; stamens ca. 1.2 mm long, ca. 1 mm in diam.; filaments indistinct; anther truncate, ca. 1 mm long, ca. 0.8 mm in diam., creamy-white; pore apical, fusing to form a large kidney-like window per theca at male anthesis, connective broad, more or less humped, ca. 0.8 mm wide.
VARIEGATED FORMS: N/A
ETYMOLOGY: The species epithet refers to the wavy leaf margins.
NOTES:
In general characteristics the inflorescence of Amorophophallus crispifolius morphologically resembles Amorophophallus brevipetiolatus, with the difference being the spadix is shorter than the spathe in Amorophophallus crispifolius and the spadix being longer than the spathe in Amorophophallus brevipetiolatus. The relatively short appendix compared to the male zone is a feature found in Amorphophallus only in Amorophophallus koratensis (Central and East Thailand, Laos), Amorophophallus napiger Gagn. (Central Thailand) and Amorophophallus gallowayi (Laos)
CULTIVARS: N/A
HYBRIDS: N/A
