ARUM SINTENISII

Species

PROTOLOGUE: Arum sintenisii , published in Annales Musei Goulandris 9: 33 (1994 publ. 1995).

Arum sintenisii (Engler) P.C. Boyce, stat. nov. Arum orientale Bieb. subsp. elongatum (Steven) Engler var. sintenisii Engler, Das Pflanzenr. 73 (IV. 23F): 80 (1920). Type: Cyprus (Kypros), auf Triften bei Kythraea (Kythrea), 6 May 1880, Sintenis & Rigo 130 (holotype K!). Arum orientale Bieb. subsp. sintenisii (Engler) P.C. Boyce, The Genus Arum: 96 (1993). Boyce (1993) regarded this taxon as a subspecies of Arum orientale. Since then, study of further material and access to living plants have convinced me that it is a distinct species. Arum sintenisii has a different mode of inflorescence presentation and a sweet, not foetid odour when in flower. Arum sintenisii is restricted to the vicinity of Kythrea in Cyprus where is occurs as extensive stands.

SYNONYMS:

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Arum orientale subsp. sintenisii (Engl.) P.C.Boyce; Arum orientale var. sintenisii Engl.

DISTRIBUTION: NE. Cyprus, SW. Türkiye: Cyprus, Türkiye.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Tuberous herb sprouting in mid-autumn to late autumn from a discoid, horizontally orientated tuber 4–6 cm across, 2–2.5 cm thick. Petiole terete, 18–46 cm long, 3–7 mm wide, deep green, usually stained with purple, especially towards the base. Leaf-blade broadly hastate, apex obtuse to subacute, 8.5–25 cm long, 5.5–17 cm wide, deep green. Larger overall than Arum orientale.

INFLORESCENCE:

Inflorescence sweet-smelling, of fermenting fruit. Peduncle as long as the petioles, longer than in Arum orientale, terete, deep green, sometimes stained with purple. Spathe smaller and relatively narrower than in Arum orientale; spathe-tube oblong-cylindric, constricted apically, exterior mid-green with dull purple staining towards the margin and apex, fading to greenish white at the base, interior greenish white below, purple above; spathe-limb ovate to ovate-lanceolate, erect at first but the apex soon flopping forwards, acute to rather bluntly acute, externally pale to mid-green, heavily to moderately stained purple, median vein pale green, internally similarly coloured but with much heavier purple staining, apex mid-green. Spadix ⅓–½ as long as the spathe-limb; appendix slender-clavate to cylindric, stalkless, dull mid-purple. Staminodes in c. 2 whorls, yellow, flushed with purple; bases conic, ± smooth, yellow. Interstices: upper sparsely grooved, minutely verrucate, yellow; lower ± absent. Staminate flowers in a quadrate zone; anthers yellow with purple tips, connectives yellow. Pistillodes in 3 or 4 whorls; bristles filiform, flexuous, yellow, flushed with purple; bases compressed conic, smooth, deep yellow. Pistillate flowers in a globose-cylindric cluster; ovaries globose, dull olive-green, stained with purple apically; stigma papillose, green. Fruiting head cylindric; berries oblong. Germination epigeal.

ECOLOGY:

Uncultivated olive groves; altitude: 50-200 m

DISTRIBUTION MAPS:

ETYMOLOGY:

For Paul Sintenis (1847–1907), who collected the type near Kythrea in northern Cyprus in 1880 with Rigo.

NOTES:

1. Boyce treated it in 1993 as a subspecies of Arum orientale and raised it to species in 1994 (published 1995); in 2006 he referred to it every vouchered Cypriot record of Arum hygrophilum and a Cypriot plant he had earlier taken for a hybrid. In Boyce’s 2006 treatment, Cyprus has three species of Arum: this one, Arum rupicola and Arum dioscoridis var. cyprium.⁵

2. One California grower with a strong interest in the genus Arum, C.J. Addington, reported that the scent of cultivated clones of this species can vary widely, from pleasantly fruity and candy-like through pungently over-ripe and rotten to odorless (June 23rd, 2007).⁹ This is a single grower's general observation, not a measured comparison; Peter Boyce, who raised the taxon to species, likened the scent to apple brandy (January 5th, 1998).¹⁰

REFERENCES:

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

2. Annales Musei Goulandris 9: 33 (1994 publ. 1995) — protologue.

3. iNaturalist: Arum sintenisii

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

9. Aroid-L mailing list, C.J. Addington, June 23rd, 2007

10. Aroid-L mailing list, Peter Boyce, January 5th, 1998

Additional photos by David Scherberich