ARUM LUCANUM

PROTOLOGUE: Arum lucanum , published in Bullettino dell'Orto Botanico della Regia Università di Napoli 3: 409-410 (1913). The protologue is reproduced below.

SYNONYMS:

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Arum orientale subsp. lucanum (Cavara & Grande) Prime

DISTRIBUTION: S. Italy, Albania: Albania, Italy.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Tuberous herb sprouting in autumn from a discoid, vertically orientated tuber 3–4 cm across, 2–2.5 cm thick. Petiole terete, 6–12 cm long, 3–4 mm wide, deep green. Leaf-blade ovate-cordate, apex acute, 6–12 cm long, 4–5 cm wide, deep green.

INFLORESCENCE:

Inflorescence smelling weakly of dung. Peduncle shorter than the leaves, 10–12 cm long, 4–5 mm wide, deep green. Spathe 8.5–13 cm long; spathe-tube cylindric, 2.5–3 cm long, c. 1 cm wide, barely constricted apically, exterior pale green, interior greenish white; spathe-limb lanceolate-oblong, acuminate, erect, 6–10 cm long, 2–3 cm wide, externally pale greenish yellow, internally similarly coloured but with faint purplish red staining, especially along the margins. Spadix c. ¾ as long as the spathe-limb, 4–5 cm in total length; appendix slender-cylindric, tapering slightly towards the base, 2–2.5 cm long, 2–3 mm wide, dark purple. Staminodes in 5 or 6 whorls forming a zone 3–4 mm long; bristles filiform, flexuous, 3–6 mm long, cream tipped with purple; bases globose, verruculose, cream. Interstices: upper ± absent, lower c. 1.5–2 mm long, cream. Staminate flowers in a subquadratic zone 2–3 mm long, 3–4 mm wide, purple. Pistillodes in 2 or 3 whorls forming a zone 1–2 mm long; bristles filiform, flexuous, 4–8 mm long, cream, tipped with purple; bases globose, verruculose, cream. Pistillate flowers in a globose cluster 4–14 mm long, 3.5–5 mm wide; ovary oblong-cylindric to globose-oblong, 2–3.5 mm long, pale green, stigma darker. Fruiting spike unknown.

ECOLOGY:

Garrigue; altitude: 1300-1700 m

DISTRIBUTION MAPS:

ETYMOLOGY:

Of Lucania (Basilicata), southern Italy.

NOTES:

1. Boyce referred this name to Arum cylindraceum in 2006, in the same act that disposed of Arum alpinum; Plants of the World Online nonetheless maintains it as a species, and the two treatments have not been reconciled.⁵

REFERENCES:

1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Arum lucanum

2. Bullettino dell'Orto Botanico della Regia Università di Napoli 3: 409-410 (1913) — protologue.

3. iNaturalist: Arum lucanum

4. Boyce, P.C. 1993. The Genus Arum: a Kew Magazine Monograph. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

5. Boyce, P.C. 2006. Arum – a decade of change. Aroideana 29: 132–137.

6. Chartier et al. 2013. Geographical variations of odour and pollinators, and test for local adaptation by reciprocal transplant of two European Arum species. Functional Ecology.

7. Diaz et al. 2006. The effectiveness of some mechanisms of reproductive isolation in Arum maculatum and A. italicum (Araceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.

8. Albre et al. 2003. Pollination ecology of Arum italicum (Araceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.

9. 2006. Studies on the Genus Arum (Araceae).

10. Cavara & Grande 1913. Esplorazione botaniche.

11. Gibernau et al 2003. Arum Pollen longevity & viability.

Additional photos by Lundquist, via the International Aroid Society

Additional photo from iNaturalist by Gabriele La Grasta