SCINDAPSUS CRASSIPES
PROTOLOGUE: Scindapsus crassipes , published in Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 1: 182 (1880). The protologue is reproduced below.
DISTRIBUTION: Borneo: Borneo.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Malaysia: Sarawak.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Translated from Engler (1882): Stem thick, leaves crowded, the fleshy thick petiole half as long as the blade and broadly sheathed up to the thick geniculum; blade thick, leathery, oblong-elliptic, narrowed about equally toward both ends, the midrib thick, with about 12 primary lateral veins on each side ascending in an arc at an acute angle, numerous parallel secondary veins and fine transverse veins. Petiole about 12 cm long, 2 cm thick below, passing into a geniculum 1.5 cm long and 1 cm thick; blade 25–30 cm long and 12 cm wide, the midrib 6–7 mm thick below and gradually thinner.³
INFLORESCENCE:
Translated from Engler (1882): Peduncle equaling the petiole of the last leaf, 8–9 cm long and 12 mm thick. Spathe obtuse, 9–10 cm long and 3 cm wide when convolute. Pistils prismatic above and nearly twice as long as wide, 4 mm long and 3 mm thick at the apex, thinner below; stigma as in the other species. Filaments of the stamens, as in the other species, half as long as the anthers. Berries unknown.³
ECOLOGY:
Found on limestone rocks at Bau in Sarawak, common there according to Ridley, and on rocks in the Malay Peninsula.⁵ Peter Boyce, writing from Sarawak in February 2007, listed Scindapsus crassipes among the obligate primary epiphytes there, together with Scindapsus beccarii, Scindapsus geniculatus and a couple of undescribed species, all of which form fans of foliage that work as litter traps.⁹
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin crassus, "thick," and pes, "foot," for the fleshy, thick petiole described in Engler's diagnosis.²
NOTES:
1. Translated from protologue: Stem thick, leaves crowded, the fleshy thick petiole half as long as the blade and broadly sheathed up to the thick geniculum; blade thick, leathery, oblong-elliptic, narrowed about equally toward both ends, the midrib thick, with about 12 primary lateral veins on each side ascending in an arc at an acute angle, numerous parallel secondary veins and fine transverse veins; peduncle equaling the petiole of the last leaf; spathe obtuse; pistils prismatic above, nearly twice as long as wide.²
2. Engler called it a very distinct species, illustrated it in figures 14–16 of plate XXI, and in his conspectus separated the two fleshy-petioled Sarawak and Sumatran species by the petiole: shorter than the elliptic blade in Scindapsus crassipes, about as long as the blade and sheathed only to the middle in Scindapsus beccarii.³
3. Hooker referred a Perak plant of Scortechini's to Scindapsus crassipes with a query, having seen only an imperfect specimen and drawing in which the leaves are narrower and the petiole shorter than in Engler's figure; in that material the stem is very stout, the petiole 1 in. across the thick coriaceous wings, the peduncle 2 in., the young fruit 6 in. by 1 in. in diameter and the berries ½ in. across the crown.⁴
4. Ridley kept Scindapsus crassipes as the species and treated Scindapsus beccarii as its variety, recording the combined plant from Sarawak (Beccari), common on the limestone rocks at Bau, and on rocks in the Malay Peninsula.⁵
5. Boyce found that this species, unlike Scindapsus latifolius, does not shed needle-like trichosclereids from disintegrating petiolar sheaths, cataphylls and prophylls, and is vegetatively fairly typical of the genus.⁶
6. Ridley did not accept this species. In the Materials of 1907 and again in the Flora of 1925 he placed Scindapsus crassipes in the synonymy of Scindapsus beccarii, describing one plant of short stout stems 2 to 3 feet long, thickly leathery dark green leaves 6 to 15 inches long on petioles sheathing for most of their length, a white boat-shaped spathe 1.5 to 3 inches long and greyish white fruit, growing usually on rocks above the tidal rivers in Perak, the Dindings, Province Wellesley, Kemaman and Trengganu, and extending to Borneo and Sumatra. He recorded two forms, one narrow-leaved with a small inflorescence and one much broader with a large spadix, which he said pass into each other. Plants of the World Online keeps the two names apart and Aroidpedia follows it, on the same reasoning applied to Furtado's reduction of Scindapsus longistipitatus: a reduction made in 1907 and repeated in 1925 is not enough to overturn the current checklist.⁷,⁸
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Scindapsus crassipes
2. Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 1: 182 (1880) — protologue.
3. Engler 1882. Aracee della Malesia e della Papuasia raccolte da O. Beccari. Malesia 1: 259–302
4. Hooker 1893. Scindapsus. The Flora of British India 6: 541–543
7. Ridley 1907. Araceae. Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula, Part III: 1–53
8. Ridley 1925. Araceae. The Flora of the Malay Peninsula 5: 84–131