AMORPHOPHALLUS PREUSSII

PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus preussii (Engl.) N.E.Br., published in Flora of Tropical Africa 8: 152 (1901).

Amorphophallus Preussii, N.E. Br. Hydrosme Preussii, Engl. Jahrb. xv. 459; Durand & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afr. v. 474. Upper Guinea. Cameroons: near a stream west of Buea, 3000 ft., Preuss 588!

SYNONYMS:

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Hydrosme preussii Engl. in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 15: 459 (1892)

DISTRIBUTION: W. Cameroon: Cameroon.

DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Cameroon: near a stream west of Buea, at 3000 ft., where Preuss gathered the type. Engler later recorded it from around Buea at 1000 m and 1200 m, and from the waterfall near Buea.².

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Leaf about 2 ft. in diam., glabrous; petiole about 2 ft. long, smooth, marked with transverse or oblique spots; terminal segments 5-7 in. long, 1.5-1.75 in. broad, oblanceolate, very acuminate, with a point 1-1.25 in. long, tapering to a decurrent base, the other segments lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate.²

INFLORESCENCE:

Peduncle 16-20 in. long. Spathe about 4.75 in. long, convolute below, yellowish-green, purple at the base; limb oblong, acute. Spadix shorter than the spathe; flowering part cylindric, dense, female about 5.5 lin. long and 5.5 lin. thick, male about 7 lin. long and 4.5 lin. thick; appendix 1.5-1.75 in. long, 2-3 lin. thick, subcylindric. Ovary ovoid, 2-celled; style short; stigma capitate.²

ECOLOGY:

Found near a stream; altitude: 3000 ft.²

ETYMOLOGY:

Named in honor of Paul Rudolph Preuss (1861–1926), German botanist and explorer who played an important role in the early scientific study of Cameroon’s flora and was the first director of the botanical garden at Victoria, now Limbe Botanic Garden. The Latinized epithet preussii means “of Preuss.”

NOTES:

1. N.E. Brown, who made the combination, records that he had seen only the leaf of this species - the rest of his account rests on Engler's earlier description of Hydrosme preussii.²

2. Engler's fuller treatment in Das Pflanzenreich, with a figure, adds the collections around Buea: Preuss's own at about 1000 m, flowering in January 1891 with leaves that September, a second at 1200 m flowering in December 1896, and Lehmbach's gathering at the waterfall near Buea, flowering in March 1898.²

REFERENCES:

1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus preussii (Engl.) N.E.Br.

2. Flora of Tropical Africa 8: 152 (1901) — protologue.

3. Aroideana 19 (1996):P7 - 131

4. Das Pflanzenreich IV.23c (Araceae-Lasioideae), Fig. 34: 96 (1911)