AMORPHOPHALLUS HEWITTII
PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus hewittii Alderw., published in Bulletin du Jardin botanique de Buitenzorg sér. 3, 1: 370 (1920). The protologue is reproduced below.
DISTRIBUTION: Borneo: Borneo.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Sarawak.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Tuber depressed-globose, to ca. 30 cm in diam., to ca. 12 cm high. Leaf solitary; petiole to ca. 3 m long, ca. 20 cm in diam. (base), base rugulose, rest smooth, mottled pink, green, blackish green and dark grey at the base with occasional large, pale green or whitish, oval or elliptic spots, leaflets elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, long-acuminate, ca. 10-22 cm long, ca. 4.5--8.0 cm in diam., acumen to 3 cm long, very slender.
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescence medium- to long-peduncled; peduncle ca. 20-60 cm long, ca. 3-ca. 15 cm in diam. (base); spathe erect, slightly campanulate, ovate or broadly ovate, ca. 20-90 cm long, ca. 16-150 cm in diam., apex obtuse, margins strongly sinuous, inwardly reflexed, base within ridged and with scattered, minute warts, outside bright green with occasional white spots and a purplish flushed margin, inside purplish at the top, the middle part creamish pink or as top part, base dark maroon. Spadix sessile, ca. 28-140 cm long.
ECOLOGY:
Found on limestone
ETYMOLOGY:
Named in honor of John Hewitt (1880–1961), a British naturalist who served as curator of the Sarawak Museum in Kuching from 1905 to 1908. Although best known as a zoologist, Hewitt also collected plants during his time in Borneo, and several botanical names commemorate him. The epithet is particularly fitting geographically, as Amorphophallus hewittii is a limestone-associated species of Sarawak.
NOTES:
1. The description presented here is based on living plants in the Leiden collection. To date both authors are not quite sure if these plants indeed represent Amorphophallus hildebrandtii as originally understood by Engler. Engler's description mentions a spadix shorter than the spathe, and flat, disciform stigmas (vs. deeply lobed stigmas in the Leiden plants). The Leiden plants may therefore represent a new species (Amorphophallus taurostigma), but no decision has yet been made. The Leiden plants (originally collected by Josef Bogner) have magnificently colored petioles and very elegant laminas.
2. Allan, a grower in Canada, raised about 30 Amorphophallus hewittii from seed and lost only a couple; the seedlings kept making leaves for about two years before first going dormant, and the dormant period has lasted only about two to three months.⁵
HYBRIDS:
Amorphophallus hewittii × (Amorphophallus decus-silvae × Amorphophallus variabilis)
Amorphophallus variabilis × Amorphophallus hewittii
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus hewittii Alderw.
2. Bulletin du Jardin botanique de Buitenzorg sér. 3, 1: 370 (1920) — protologue.
3. Alan Galloway — Amorphophallus hewittii, alangallowaybotanicals.com.