AMORPHOPHALLUS ELATUS
PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus elatus Hook.f., published in The Flora of British India 6: 517 (1893).
Amorphophallus elatus, Hook. f.; peduncle very tall rough, spathe lanceolate acute erect sheathing for the lower half margins not revolute, spadix more than twice as long as the spathe very stout, appendage more than twice as long as the infl. narrowed from below the middle to the slender tip.
SYNONYMS:
OTHER NAMES: Thai: Buk yot laem (บุกยอดแหลม)(Peninsular).
DISTRIBUTION: Myanmar to Pen. Malaysia: Peninsular Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Thailand: PENINSULAR: Chumphon, Ranong, Surat Thani, Phangnga, Phuket, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Satun. Myanmar: Myeik District of Tanintharyi Region Peninsular Malaysia: Perak, Larut, Matang and Selama District, vicinity of Taiping (historical Larut District).
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Tuber elongate, rarely branched, 2–25 by 1–4 cm. Leaf solitary; petiole 50–100 by 1.5–2.3 cm, smooth or densely, short velvety, uniformly pale green, brown, dark reddish brown, dark yellowish brown or pinkish brown, with many blackish green spots, these often entirely confluent near the base, and fewer, larger, narrowly elongate to linear, dirty creamy white spots; leaf blade 80–120 cm diam., rachises winged nearly to the base; leaflets oblong-elliptic, elongate-elliptic or lanceolate, 8–31 by 3.5–8 cm, acute, acuminate or apiculate, adaxially moderately glossy, dark green, with or without a very thin, reddish margin.
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescence long pedunculate; peduncle appearance as petiole, 16–75 cm by 5–15 mm; spathe ovate-triangular, tubular, 5–19 by 4–15 cm, acute, base and limb poorly differentiated, exterior pale green with or without a pinkish hue, or entirely dirty darkish green with a few blackish green and white dots, or dark greyish brown, or the central part dirty brownish green, dark brown towards the margin, with small, rounded, white spots scattered all over, or concentrated in the lower half, interior as exterior but spots slightly or distinctly larger, often confluent, especially in the lower part of the limb, or interior bright pale green with white spots, base within pale green, violet, or pale violet, with scattered, very shallow, rounded, broad-based warts, these green or violet; spadix longer than spathe, sessile, 14–56 cm long; pistillate flower zone cylindrical, 5–25 by 4–15 mm, flowers congested; ovaries depressed, oval in cross-section, 1.3 by 2–2.3 mm, mid green, bright green or whitish green; style nearly absent, 0.1–0.2 by 0.8 mm, green; stigma conical, 2–3-lobed, oval in cross-section, 0.7 mm high, pale green, pale brown, dark brown or pale yellowish, surface minutely scabrate, lobes conical, consisting of branches from the style; staminate flower zone cylindrical, somewhat fusiform or fusiform-conical, 1.3–5 cm by 7–17 mm, flowers congested; staminate flowers 3–6-androus, the lower ones entirely synandriate, these ca 6 mm, creamy white; appendix elongate fusiform-conical, (sub-)stipitate, 12–49 by 1–2.8 cm, apex acute, base constricted, creamy white, dirty pale brown or pale pin-kish, with irregular, shallow depressions, sometimes with scattered blackish dots. Fruit globose, shiny red.
ECOLOGY:
The species is found growing in the field of young rubber plantations in Myanmar at 31 m a.s.l. In Thailand the species was found in dry, evergreen forest or mixed deciduous forest on granite or limestone at 75–100 m a.s.l. and in open jungle on rich soil in Peninsular Malaysia at 30–701 m a.s.l.
DISTRIBUTION MAPS:
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin elatus, “lofty” or “tall,” referring to the species’ very tall peduncle and imposing stature.
NOTES:
1. In Blumea 67, 2022 the authors reported the first record of Amorphophallus elatus in Myanmar collected in the Myeik District of Tanintharyi Region
2. Amorphophallus elatus may be looked upon as a small version of Amorphophallus macrorhizus (N Thailand) from which it differs by its smaller dimensions, lack of hairs on the appendix, the strongly 2-lobed stigma and lack of hairs on the petiole and peduncle.
Ridley (op. cit.) confused Amorphophallus elatus with Amorphophallus variabilis, presuming that the elongate tuber was a consequence of it being cramped between rocks in the ground as opposed to the normally depressed-globose form of Amorphophallus variabilis when freely growing.
3. Marco Malacarne reported on Facebook that the inflorescence of Amorphophallus elatus has a very distinct and quite strong initial cheese odour that quickly dissipates
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus elatus Hook.f.
2. The Flora of British India 6: 517 (1893) — protologue.
3. Alan Galloway — Amorphophallus elatus, alangallowaybotanicals.com.