AMORPHOPHALLUS SUBCYMBIFORMIS

PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus subcymbiformis Alderw., published in Bulletin du Jardin botanique de Buitenzorg sér. 3, 1: 366 (1920).

Amorphophallus subcymbiformis, v. Amorphophallus v. R., Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg sér. 3, 1: 366 (1920). In forest; alt. 500 m. - Near A. Beccarii Engl. The description is taken from a living specimen cultivated in the Buitenzorg Gardens, flowering June 1919. Sumatra (Deli, Sibolangit, W. Docters van Leeuwen).

DISTRIBUTION: Sumatera: Sumatra.

DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Sumatra: Deli, at Sibolangit, where W. Docters van Leeuwen gathered it.².

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Translated from protologue: Cataphylls 5; the outermost triangular, very short, acute and open, the innermost broadly linear and about 35 cm long, convolute and obtuse, outside pale reddish, sparingly marked with red dots and densely and irregularly with black ones, reddish-grey in general appearance, variegated with pale spots that run from rounded to lengthwise streaks. The petiole and lamina are left blank in the original description.²

INFLORESCENCE:

Translated from protologue: Peduncle about 45 cm long, coloured as the cataphyll but with broader, oblong-oval spots. Spathe club-shaped seen from behind, about 14 cm long, its lower quarter subcylindrical and about 1.75 cm across, narrowly open in front with the margins touching only at the base so that it does not cover the inflorescence, the rest somewhat boat-shaped and widely open, about 4 cm wide, oblong and obtuse when spread out, shortly incurved-apiculate; outside green, sparingly red-dotted and densely purple-dotted, green-grey in general appearance and marked with scattered small rounded pale green spots, inside pale grey-green. Spadix sessile, a little shorter than the spathe; female inflorescence cylindrical, about 1.5 cm long and as thick; pistils about 3 mm high; ovary slightly depressed, shortly and bluntly prismatic, ivory, subtruncate and pale green at the apex, passing abruptly into a shortly conical pale green style, 1-ovulate; stigma capitate, pale greenish yellow, with a minute 3- or 4-angled pit at the apex; male inflorescence cylindrical, about 1.75 cm long and nearly 1.5 cm thick, ivory; appendix subfusiform-cylindrical, about 8 cm long and about 2 cm thick at the middle, obtuse, pale yellowish green, minutely warted and rough.²

ECOLOGY:

Found in forest at 500 m.²

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin sub-, “somewhat,” and cymbiformis, “boat-shaped.” Above its cylindrical lower quarter the spathe opens into a shallow boat about 4 cm across, and it is that shape the name records.²

NOTES:

1. The description was made from a living plant flowering in the Buitenzorg botanic garden in June 1919, not from herbarium material.²

2. The leaf was never described. The entries for the petiole and the lamina were left blank in the original, as they were for several other species the same author published in that paper.²

3. The spathe does not enclose the inflorescence. Its margins meet only at the base, so the spadix stands exposed through a narrow opening down the front.²

4. The author placed the species near Amorphophallus beccarii.²

5. Each ovary carries a single ovule, and the stigma has a minute angular pit at its tip.²

REFERENCES:

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

2. Bulletin du Jardin botanique de Buitenzorg sér. 3, 1: 366 (1920) — protologue.