AMORPHOPHALLUS PAUCISECTUS

PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus paucisectus Alderw., published in Bulletin du Jardin botanique de Buitenzorg sér. 3, 1: 370 (1920). The protologue is reproduced below.

DISTRIBUTION: Sumatera: Sumatra.

DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Sumatra: Mount Talamau, where H.A.B. Bünnemeyer gathered the type on 25 May 1917.².

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Translated from protologue: Petiole of the leaf about 20-30 cm long, perhaps longer in the adult plant; lamina 3-sect; primary segments - of a juvenile plant? - 1-2-foliolate; leaflets petiolulate, more or less elliptic, about 9-12 x 3.5-5 cm, abruptly cuspidate, rounded-cuneate at the base, a little longer on one side. Cataphylls...²

INFLORESCENCE:

Translated from protologue: Peduncle about 55-60 cm long. Spathe convolute at the base, nearly flat above, ovate when spread, about 15 x 7.5 cm, somewhat blunt at the apex, shortly and sharply apiculate-acuminate. Spadix about 11 cm long; female inflorescence cylindrical, about 2 cm long; ovaries depressed-globose, about 2 mm high, 1-ovuled; style slenderly and shortly cylindrical, about 0.5 mm long; stigma capitate, smooth, here and there obscurely pitted; male inflorescence cylindrical, about 3.5 cm long; appendix conical-cylindrical, about 5.5 cm long, a little thicker than the whole inflorescence, about 1.5 cm thick near the base, gradually tapering towards the somewhat blunt apex, nearly smooth.²

ECOLOGY:

Found in forest; altitude: 1000 m²

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin paucus, “few,” and sectus, “cut”: the leaf is divided into few segments - the primary divisions carry only one or two leaflets each, where most species in the genus carry many.²

NOTES:

1. The entry for the cataphylls was left blank in the original description, as were several others - the author was working from incomplete material.²

2. The flower was not described from a living or dried plant but from material preserved in alcohol, which the author states directly.²

3. The leaf described may be that of a juvenile plant, and the author flags the doubt himself with a question mark. If so, an adult would have a longer petiole and more segments than the epithet suggests.²

REFERENCES:

1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus paucisectus Alderw.

2. Bulletin du Jardin botanique de Buitenzorg sér. 3, 1: 370 (1920) — protologue.