AMORPHOPHALLUS GOETZEI
PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus goetzei (Engl.) N.E.Br., published in Flora of Tropical Africa 8: 150 (1901). The protologue is reproduced below.
SYNONYMS:
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Hydrosme goetzei Engl. in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 28: 355 (1900)
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: Amorphophallus anguineus Peter in Nachr. Ges. Wiss. Göttingen, Math.-Phys. Kl. 3: 192, 215 (1929 publ. 1930) Amorphophallus petitianus Malaisse & Bamps in Bull. Jard. Bot. Natl. Belg. 62: 179 (1993)
DISTRIBUTION: Tanzania to SE. DR Congo and Mozambique: Mozambique, Tanzania, DR Congo.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Tanzania, Ruvuma Region, vicinity of Kitai, a few kilometres east of the turn-off to Ruanda, along the Mikwanga River, ca. 900 m.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Tuber disciform, to 13 cm in diam. (but probably much larger), offsetting behavior insufficiently known. Leaf solitary; petiole to 60 cm long, color unknown; lamina ca. 100 cm in diam.; leaflets elliptic-oval, acuminate, to 15 cm long.
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescence appearing just prior to the leaf, short-peduncled; peduncle to 20 cm long; spathe urceolate, to ca. 40 cm long, base and limb separated by a strong constriction, base outside whitish green, densely covered with dark green, irregular spots, inside dark purple, covered with short warts and papillae, the latter in the base often merged to form irregular ridges, limb outside dark green to bright purple, inside bright purple. Spadix longer than spathe, to 80 cm long.
ETYMOLOGY:
Named in honor of Walter Goetze (1872–1899), a German naturalist, explorer, and plant collector who collected the type material of the species in present-day Tanzania.
NOTES:
1. Amorphophallus goetzei was treated by Mayo (1985: 31) but he included material that is now recognized as a separate species (Amorphophallus impressus Ittenb. ined., see descr.). Mayo’s figure 8 actually also represents Amorphophallus impressus. Amorphophallus goetzei differs from Amorphophallus impressus in having a less depressed spathe base and the male part extends well beyond the constriction of the spathe. Smaller specimens resemble Amorphophallus eichleri, but the latter lacks the papillae in the spathe base.
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus goetzei (Engl.) N.E.Br.
2. Flora of Tropical Africa 8: 150 (1901) — protologue.