AMORPHOPHALLUS WASA
PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus wasa Naive, K.Z.Hein & Hett., published in Blumea 67: 124 (2022).
Amorphophallus wasa Naive, K.Z. Hein & Hett., sp. nov. Amorphophallus wasa is similar to Amorphophallus saraburiensis Gagnep. from Thailand, but differs by lacking staminodes between pistillate and staminate zones, having a shorter, 0.7 mm long, brownish green style (vs style 1-2 mm long, purple), a unilocular ovary (vs bilocular ovary), an acute and rugulose appendix (vs obtuse and corrugate appendix), and spathe base inside with shallow warts (vs thick shortly elongate, fleshy warts). Type: K.Z. Hein 043 (holo KKU; iso KKU, TTM), Myanmar, Sagaing Region, Yinmabin District, Yinmabin Township, near Shwe Taung Oo Pagoda, elev. 40 m, N22°12'00" E95°04'10", 11 June 2021.
DISTRIBUTION: Myanmar: Myanmar.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Myanmar: the Monywa and Yinmabin districts of the Sagaing Region.².
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
A seasonally dormant herb. Tuber turnip-shaped, 8.5-11 cm long and 4-10 cm across, brown outside and white within. Leaf solitary; petiole 63-77 cm long, 2.1-3.3 cm across at the base and 1.3-1.9 cm at the top, smooth and terete, green to brownish purplish green with dark brown-olive spots. Lamina decompound, 68-70 cm across, divided into three main segments, the rachises narrowly winged throughout; leaflets elliptic to obovate, 4.3-11.5 cm long and 3-5.2 cm wide, the apex acuminate with an acumen 0.2-1.2 cm long, the base asymmetric and decurrent, pale green above and green beneath, hairless on both faces.²
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescence solitary; cataphyll 10-35 cm long; peduncle 58-84 cm long and about 1.2 cm across at the base, smooth and terete, green to brownish purplish green with dark brown-olive spots. Spathe narrowly triangular-ovate, 15-30 cm long and 4.5-6 cm across; the base shortly convolute and nearly wholly open, inside light green with shallow warts, green with olive spots, the margin entire and dark purple; the limb usually erect and recurving with age, inside dark purple with green streaks down the centre, outside paler dark purple with brownish green streaks and olive-green spots, the apex acute. Spadix longer than the spathe, 21-40 cm long, stalked; stipe about 0.6 cm long and 0.8 cm across, smooth, green; female zone cylindric, 2-2.5 cm long and 1.2-1.5 cm across, the flowers slightly apart; male zone touching the female zone, cylindric, 5-8.5 cm long and 1.1-1.5 cm across, the flowers congested; appendix touching the male zone, awl-shaped, 14-32 cm long and 0.6-1.1 cm across at the base, tapering, wrinkled, coppery or claret, the apex acute. Ovary globose to subglobose, about 2 by 2 mm, one-chambered, green; style cylindrical, about 0.7 mm long and 0.8 mm across, brownish green; stigma hemispheric, about 1.3 mm high and 1.7 mm across, two- or three-lobed, the surface spiny, yellow. Male flowers of 2-4 stamens, slightly enlarged at the bottom of the male zone; stamen about 1.3 mm long and 1.5-2 mm across; filaments about 0.5 mm long; anther about 0.7 mm long and 0.5 mm across, yellow, the connective yellow or purplish yellow, the pore apical. Infructescence elongate; berries subglobose, about 0.6 cm across, green when young and red when ripe.²
ECOLOGY:
Grows in tropical dry forest, in both shaded and brightly lit places, at 40-50 m. It has been seen flowering in the wild from May to June and fruiting from July to August.²
DISTRIBUTION MAPS:
ETYMOLOGY:
The epithet is the plant's local name, taken over unaltered as a noun in apposition rather than turned into Latin.²
NOTES:
1. It comes closest to Amorphophallus saraburiensis of Thailand, differing in having no staminodes between the female and male zones, a shorter brownish green style of 0.7 mm against a purple one of 1-2 mm, a one-chambered rather than two-chambered ovary, an acute and wrinkled rather than obtuse and corrugated appendix, and shallow rather than thick fleshy warts inside the spathe base.²
2. The spathe is nearly wholly open at the base rather than rolled into a tube.²
3. The authors assessed it as Endangered. Its extent of occurrence is about 971 square kilometres but the area it actually occupies is put at 16, and it is known only from two districts.²
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus wasa Naive, K.Z.Hein & Hett.
2. Blumea 67: 124 (2022) — protologue.