AMORPHOPHALLUS DUNNII
PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus dunnii Tutcher, published in Journal of Botany 49: 273 (1911). The protologue is reproduced below.
SYNONYMS:
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: Amorphophallus mellii Engl. in Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 8: 187 (1922) Amorphophallus odoratus Hett. & H.Li in Blumea 39: 265 (1994)
OTHER NAMES: 南蛇棒 nan she bang
DISTRIBUTION: SE. China: China Southeast.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: From protologue: Plentiful in a ravine on the south slope of Mt. Parker, Hong Kong.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Tuber subglobose or depressed globose, up to 12 cm in diam., developing numerous offsets annually, these shortly elongate-fusiform. Leaf solitary; petiole 30-60 cm long, smooth, green or greyish green with numerous, elongate, confluent, pale green or brownish green spots; lamina up to c. 100 cm in diam., rhachises winged; leaflets lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, 3-20 cm long, 2-6 cm broad, upper surface dark green.
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescence solitary, long peduncled, producing a scent of fresh carrots; peduncle as petiole, 20-60 cm long, 0.7-1.8 cm in diam. (base); spathe 8.5-24 cm long, 8.5-23 cm in diam., broadly ovate, strongly concave, top acute, overarching the spadix, base shortly convolute, outside bright pale green, basally with rounded white spots, these upwards grading to whitish green, inside base or a larger patch reddish purple, remainder and limb as outside but paler, base within ridged-verruculate. Spadix slightly shorter than spathe, stipitate or, rarely, near sessile, 8-20 cm long; stipe 0.5-1.5 cm long, coloured as peduncle but much paler; female zone cylindric, upper part occasionally broadened, 0.5-2.5 cm long, 1-2.2 cm in diam.,flowers congested; male zone broadly fusiform, 1.8-3 cm long, 1.3-3.5 cm in diam., flowers congested; appendix narrowly to broadly conic, usually slightly dorso-ventrally compressed, occasionally substipitate, variable, hollow, 3-14 cm long, 1.3-4.5 cm in diam. (near base), ivory-white, base constricted, top subacute or obtuse, surface smooth or entirely echinate or verruculate, or only the upper third part so, base sometimes grooved. Ovaries depressed, angulate in cross section, 2-3 mm in diam., 1-1.5 mm high, pale green, 2- or 3-locular; style 0.5-1 mm long, 0.8-1 mm in diam., pale green; stigma flattened, 2 mm in diam., 1 mm high, 2- or 3- (or 4-)lobed, oval or triangular in cross section, yellowish, scabrate-verrucate, lobes obtuse. Male flowers consisting of 4 or 5 stamens; stamens 3 mm long; filaments 1.5 mm long, basal third connate; anthers butterfly-shaped in cross section, 1.5 mm long, 1.5-1.8 mm in diam.; pores elongate, apical but near the margin, sometimes connected by an excentric groove. Pollen striate.
ETYMOLOGY:
The species was named after Mr. S. T. Dunn who was superintendent of the Botanical and Forestry Department in Hong Kong for seven years, and to whom the protologue author is thankful for sharing his botanical knowledge.
The etymology of Amorphophallus odoratus, the synonym of Amorphophallus dunnii referred to the strong and pleasant scent of fresh carrots produced during female anthesis.
NOTES:
1. Amorphophallus dunnii mostly resembles Amorphophallus tonkinensis but differs from the latter by the differently patterned petiole and peduncle, the stipitate spadix, the differently sculptured inside of the spathe-base and the much broader and thin walled appendix. From Amorphophallus yunnanensis Engl, it differs in the much larger stigmas and the often echinate appendix and fusiform offsets.
2. H. Li (in FRPS 13(2): 92-95. 1979) treated Amorphophallus dunnii and Amorphophallus mellii separately, but the descriptions indicate to Hetterscheid that they represent one variable species. The placement of Amorphophallus mellii as well as Amorphophallus odoratus in the synonymy of Amorphophallus dunnii was explained by Hetterscheid (Blumea 46: 281. 2000):
"Amorphophallus odoratus Hett. & H. Li, Blumea 39 (1994) 265 [China (Hong Kong)] and Amorphophallus mellii Engl., Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Mus. Berlin-Dahlem8 (1922) 13 (south-easternChina). The recognition of Amorphophallus odoratus was based mainly on the opinion of Prof. Dr. Li Heng, expert on Chinese aroids, that it represented a new species for the Chinese flora.However, closer examination by the first author of the,only later to him available, type material of Amorphophallus dunnii Tutcher [J. Bot. 49 (1911) 273; China, Hong Kong] and Amorphophallus mellii Engl, showed that all three names represent the same species. It is therefore proposed here that the names Amorphophallus mellii and Amorphophallus odoratus are placed as new synonyms to Amorphophallus dunnii"
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus dunnii Tutcher
2. Journal of Botany 49: 273 (1911) — protologue.
3. Alan Galloway — Amorphophallus dunnii, alangallowaybotanicals.com.
4. Blumea: Biodiversity, Evolution and Biogeography of Plants, Volume 39 - Issue 1/2 p. 237- 281
5. Blumea: Biodiversity, Evolution and Biogeography of Plants, Volume 46 - Issue 2 p. 253- 282