SCINDAPSUS CURRANII

PROTOLOGUE: Scindapsus curranii , published in Das Pflanzenreich IV.23B (Heft 37): 138 (1908). The protologue is reproduced below.

SYNONYMS:

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: Scindapsus philippinensis K.Krause

DISTRIBUTION: N. Borneo, Philippines: Borneo, Philippines.

DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Philippines: Laguna.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Translated from protologue: Stem climbing, terete, moderately stout, slightly grooved lengthwise, with internodes 2–4 cm long. Petiole slender, 6–9 cm long, furnished up to the geniculum, which is 1–1.2 cm long, with a membranous, long-persistent sheath about 6 mm wide on each side below and gradually narrowed upward; blade obliquely ovate-oblong, apex long-acuminate, base rather obtuse or slightly cordate-emarginate, 16–20 cm long and 5–8.5 cm wide, unequal-sided with one side nearly a quarter to a third wider, the numerous primary lateral veins about equally prominent on both surfaces, leaving the midrib at an angle of about 45° and ascending in an arc toward the margin, the secondary lateral veins finer and parallel to the primaries.²

INFLORESCENCE:

Translated from protologue: Peduncle slender, 9–12 cm long. Spathe not seen. Spadix sessile, cylindric, obtuse, 4–5 cm long and 0.8–1 cm thick. Filaments of the stamens dilated, about as long as the pistils. Pistils prismatic, mostly hexagonal, 3–4 mm long and 4–5 mm wide, the truncate and sometimes slightly hollowed apex crowned by a linear-oblong, scarcely raised stigma.²

ETYMOLOGY:

Honors H. M. Curran, evidently Hugh McCollum Curran of the Philippine Bureau of Forestry, who collected the two original collections on Mount Banahaw with Merrill in November 1907.²

NOTES:

1. In the supplementary key of the monograph the species is separated from Scindapsus treubii, Scindapsus falcifolius and Scindapsus pictus by a petiole about a third as long as the blade and a smooth stem slightly grooved lengthwise.²

2. Published in the addenda at the end of Engler and Krause's monograph from material that reached Berlin from the Manila herbarium while the work was in press; the spathe was unknown.²

REFERENCES:

1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Scindapsus curranii

2. Das Pflanzenreich IV.23B (Heft 37): 138 (1908) — protologue.

Additional photos by P.B. Pelser, J.F. Barcelona and Guiller Opiso, and from the Plants and Lichens of the Southern Philippines project, via Phytoimages at the Bailey Hortorium, Cornell University