AMORPHOPHALLUS FLOTOI
PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus flotoi (S.Y.Hu) Govaerts, published in Skvortsovia 4(3): 77 (2018).
The original protologue for Pseudodracontium harmandii: Ps. Harmandii Engl. n. sp.; tubere depresso, cataphyllis pluribus lanceolatis folium solitarium et pedunculum includentibus; folii glabri petiolo pallido, lamina trisecta, segmentis tribus pinnatisectis, medio 3-jugo, segmentis infimis atque medicis quam superiore et terminale brevioribus, segmentis I. lateralibus 5-jugis, segmentis in jugis interdum magnitudine diversis et segmentis parvis solitariis interdum inter juga interpositis, segmentis superioribus 3 vel 5 costae paullum decurrentibus et inter se cohaerentibus, omnibus oblongis basi acutis, apice breviter acuminatis acutis, nervis lateralibus cujusque folioli numerosis nervo collectivo a margine paullum remoto conjunctis; pedunculo folium superante; spatha conchaeformi, oblongo-lanceolata acuminata pallide viridescente; spadice quam spatha breviore; inflorescentia feminea cylindrica quam mascula inferne densiflora superne laxiflora triplo breviore; appendice breviter stipitata conoidea quam inflorescentia mascula fertilis plus duplo breviore; pistillis obovoideis, stigmate orbiculari discoideo coronatis; floribus masculis plerumque 5-andris; staminibus clavaeformibus; thecis filamento paullo brevioribus crassis, ovoideis, rimula longitudinali extrorsum dehiscentibus; appendicis stipite longitudinaliter sulcato, ipsa e staminodiis clavaeformibus irregulariter cohaerentibus composita.
SYNONYMS:
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Pseudodracontium flotoi S.Y.Hu in Dansk Bot. Ark. 23: 443 (1968)
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: Amorphophallus pseudoharmandii Hett. & Claudel in Aroideana 35: 43 (2012) Pseudodracontium harmandii Engl. in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 25: 15 (1898) Pseudodracontium harmandii var. schmidtii Engl. in Bot. Tidsskr. 24: 275 (1902) Pseudodracontium kerrii Gagnep. in H.Lecomte, Fl. Indo-Chine 6: 1153 (1942), no Latin descr. Pseudodracontium laoticum Gagnep. in H.Lecomte, Fl. Indo-Chine 6: 1154 (1942), no Latin descr.
DISTRIBUTION: Indo-China: Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Cambodia: Kampong Chhnang](Godefroy, on Dr. Harmand’s expedition, no. 144, June 1875).
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Leaf always distinctly taller than inflorescence. Tuber shortly or strongly elongate, up to 20 cm long. Petiole up to 60–70 cm long, 2 cm diam. at base, ground colour pale green to dirty pale greyish green, entire surface usually with small and large (1–20 mm long), elongate, blackish green spots rarely lacking and numerous small white spots; anterior main segment 26–41 cm long, consisting of 3–5 ‘leaflets’, the largest (terminal) 12–23 × 3–10 cm, oblong, acute-acuminate at the apex, base decurrent on the rhachis, leathery, upper surface mid- to dark green, more or less glossy, rarely almost bluish green, decurrent part of the base rarely with a purplish margin; variegation, when present, consisting of white to yellowish white dots or a continuous white stripe on each side of the midrib (upper surface only), rarely lateral veins of the first order and the inner collective vein also white; posterior main segments 35–45 cm long, often dichotomously branched, consisting of up to (8–)9–11 ‘leaflets’, the largest 10–25 × 3–9.5 cm., inner collective vein 6–13 mm distant from the margin of the segment, rhachises winged except the lower 3 cm.
INFLORESCENCE:
Peduncle 45–57 cm long, c. 1.3 cm at the base, colour like that of petiole but paler, with less numerous spots in the upper half. Spathe cymbiform, never fornicate, elliptic to ovate-elliptic, shortly acuminate at the apex, green to yellow (more often of intermediate colour), up to 14–16 cm long, 6–7 cm diam., distinctly (up to 4 cm) longer than the spadix; margins involute, base inside with numerous tiny shallow warts. Spadix 10–15 cm long; female zone 1.5–1.8 cm long, c. 1 cm diam., cylindric; male zone 3.5–7.5 cm long, 1.5–1.8 cm diam., flowers congested in the lower part, distant in the remaining part; appendix stipitate (stipe less than 0.5 cm long) or almost sessile, broadly conic, obtuse, base truncate, 3–5.5 cm long, 1.6 cm diam. at the base, white, papillate-clavate, in the lower part staminodes well separated, on pronounced stalks. Ovaries obovoid, slightly depressed, prismatic, very pale whitish green, 1.8–2 mm diam.; stigma sessile, thick-discoid to subhemispheric, surface densely scabrate, 1–1.2 mm diam. Male flowers consisting of (1 or) 3–6 stamens (average 4 or 5); filaments mostly free to the base and straight, in the lower part of the zone occasionally entirely fused in one flower to a column-like stalk; anthers club-shaped to almost globose, free but in the lowermost flowers partly or entirely fused in one flower to form a more or less disc-like synandrium with a deep central depression (this rarely also in the upper part of the male zone). Infructescence: berry red, up to 1.5 cm long, 1.3 cm diam.; seed large, ovate, 10–13 mm long, 6–11 mm diam., chalazal end flattened, opposite end with a conical outgrowth, coat pale green with a moderately glossy silvery layer, with more or less rounded or oval, pale reddish brown spots (crowded near chalaza), rhaphe distinct, dark brown, broad (seed description by Hetterscheid, 1995, pers. comm., based on Maxwell 92-683).
Amorphophallus flotoi flowers from April to August and fruits from (May–)October to December (Maxwell 92-683, Lichy 120).
ECOLOGY:
Occurs in open forests or disturbed habitats (e.g., along forest roads and paths, on old termite colonies, near edges of forest). In the Ma Da forest (S Vietnam), it occurs in small groups in open habitats, e.g. at the edge of the forest with Lagerstroemia ovalifolia in the tree layer, among the lax cover formed by Imperata sp., Bambusa sp. and Eupatorium odoratum. Within a 3 × 3 m plot (on laterite) 8 mature and 5 juvenile plants were recorded. Maxwell collected fruiting specimens on Si Chang island (Chonburi Prov., Thailand, Maxwell 92-683, cult. in Hort. Bot. Leiden) on dolomite in exposed to shaded areas; on the label it was stressed that there were numerous plants in the locality. Kuznetsov collected specimens in the Xuen Moc reserve in seashore lowland dry dipterocarp forest on carbonate sands, observing that there were only a few specimens in that population.
ETYMOLOGY:
Etymology: Named in honor of Franz Floto, a Danish botanical student and plant collector who participated in botanical exploration of Thailand and collected the type specimen, Floto 7738, at Phu Kradueng
NOTES:
1. Reduced in 2018 from Pseudodracontium to Amorophophallus, likely following the Blumea 40 article reducing all other Pseudodracontiums
"Amorphophallus flotoi (S.Y.Hu) Govaerts, comb. nov. (urn:lsid:ipni.org:names: 77192144-1) Basionym: Pseudodracontium flotoi S.Y.Hu, Dansk Bot. Ark. 23: 443. 1968. Family: Araceae Notes: This is an earlier available name for Amorphophallus pseudoharmandii Hett. & Claudel., following the species concept of Serebryany (1995). "
2.Amorphophallus flotoi is distinguished by an entirely papillate-clavate appendix, sessile, thick-discoid to subhemispheric stigmas, and a green to yellow (mostly yellowish green), broad, never fornicate spathe which is distinctly longer than the spadix. The foliar variegation never resembles that of P. lacourii; the latter, when variegated, has white spots all over the surface of the ‘leaflets’.
Engler (1902) separated Amorphophallus flotoi var. schmidtii from the typical variety based on the more narrowly lanceolate ‘leaflets’ (up to 12 × 4 cm) and the longer (15 cm) spathe. Both characters are of no taxonomic value and var. schmidtii is here reduced to the synonymy of Amorphophallus flotoi.
All the material cited with P. laoticum and P. kerrii completely agree with Amorphophallus flotoi. Gagnepain (1942) reduced Amorphophallus flotoi to P. lacourii without any discussion. He also used the shape of tubers as a character in the key to separate P. kerrii from P. laoticum but this is an example of a collecting artefact. When tubers of Pseudodracontium are dug up while in the process of developing a new tuber on top of the old one, the new tuber may become separated when handled carelessly. At this stage it will be subglobose, which may lead one to think that this is the actual tuber shape [Evrard 1199 (P) represents this phenomenon].
Hu (1968) described P. flotoi from Thailand, mentioning a longer (5.5 cm) appendix and spathe (14 cm) and the ovule only partially covered by the mantle as specific characters for the species. Neither of these characters are of taxonomic value. The first fit Amorphophallus flotoi (length of the appendix and spathe in this species varies considerably in one plant in different years), the third character is variable even in the type specimen of P. flotoi. Hu’s concept of P. flotoi seems confused. Whereas the holotype specimen clearly belongs to Amorphophallus flotoi, the paratypes represent P. macrophyllum and P. lacourii.
The type collection is wrongly cited by Engler (1911) as Godefroy in Exped. Dr. Harmand ‘144’ but this collection belongs to Amorphophallus harmandii Engl.
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus flotoi (S.Y.Hu) Govaerts
2. Skvortsovia 4(3): 77 (2018) — protologue.
3. Blumea - Biodiversity Evolution and Biogeography of Plants 40:217-235
4. Denmark Natural History Museum
5. Botanische Jahrbücher fur Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie V.25 (1898) P.15
6. Alan Galloway - Pseudodracontium harmandii
Additional photos by Marc Gingras and Timothy Choltco