SCINDAPSUS LONGISTIPITATUS
PROTOLOGUE: Scindapsus longistipitatus , published in Philippine Journal of Science 29: 353 (1926).
Scindapsus longistipitatus Merr., sp. nov. A species very strongly characterized among all the described forms of this genus by its very long-stipitate spadices, these in fruit being 18 to 20 cm in length, the flattened spathes persistent. Type: Banguey (Banggi) Island, Sabah, in primary forest at about 20 m, P. Castro & F. Melegrito 1345.
DISTRIBUTION: Borneo: Borneo.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Malaysia: Sabah.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Translated from protologue: Stem about 1 cm thick; leaves papery, oblong to elliptic-oblong, slightly unequal-sided, 29–33 cm long and 5.5–13 cm wide, narrowed about equally toward both ends, apex shortly acuminate, base obtuse; primary veins about 15 on each side, slender, ascending, scarcely more distinct than the secondary veins; petiole 12–17 cm long, somewhat geniculate below the apex, sheathed up to the geniculum, the larger ones up to 1.8 cm wide below.²
INFLORESCENCE:
Translated from protologue: Inflorescences shortly pedunculate; spathes persistent, 14–17 cm long and 3–3.5 cm wide, leathery, shortly acuminate; spadices in fruit very long-stipitate, the stipe 18–20 cm long, cylindric, obtuse, 8–10 cm long and about 1.5 cm in diameter; berries about 5 mm long, truncate at the apex, rhomboid, the stigma sunken.²
ECOLOGY:
Found in primary forest on Banggi Island off northern Sabah at about 20 m.² altitude: 20 m
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin longus, "long," and stipitatus, "stalked," for the stipe of the spadix, 18–20 cm long in fruit, which Merrill called the species' most striking character.²
NOTES:
1. A species very strongly characterized among all the described forms of this genus by its very long-stipitate spadices, these in fruit being 18 to 20 cm in length, the flattened spathes persistent.²
2. Boyce and Wong list the species among those described after Engler and Krause's monograph of 1908, the last revision of the genus, and note that there is no modern account of Scindapsus and that many of its species are known only from fragmentary collections.⁴
3. Furtado reduced this species to Scindapsus perakensis in 1935, publishing the synonymy as new. Aroidpedia does not follow the reduction. Plants of the World Online accepts both names, no later author has revisited the question, and the genus has had no revision since Engler and Krause in 1908 against which the reduction could be tested. The two are kept apart here, and Merrill's very long-stipitate spadix, 18 to 20 cm in fruit, and persistent flattened spathe remain the characters that would have to be explained away.⁶
STORY:
STORY TITLE: A spadix on a stalk
Elmer Merrill described Scindapsus longistipitatus in 1926 from the flora of Banguey, now Banggi, the island off the northern tip of Sabah, where Castro and Melegrito had collected it in primary forest about 20 m above the sea. He called it a species very strongly characterized among all the described forms of the genus by its very long-stipitate spadices, 18 to 20 cm in length in fruit, and by its flattened spathes, which persist. Both characters are odd for the tribe. A Scindapsus spadix is sessile or nearly so in almost every other species, and Boyce notes that in most of the Malesian Monstereae observed to date the spathe gapes on opening and is swiftly shed at male anthesis, the partially persistent spathe of Scindapsus rupestris being one of the few exceptions.²,⁵
Merrill's account gives the rest of the plant: a stem about 1 cm thick, papery oblong to elliptic-oblong blades 29 to 33 cm long on petioles 12 to 17 cm long sheathed to the geniculum, leathery spathes 14 to 17 cm long, and rhomboid berries about 5 mm long with a sunken stigma. Plants of the World Online gives the range simply as Borneo, and photographs posted to iNaturalist from Sabah and Sarawak show that the plant is still being found; it is listed in the Compendium of Malesian aroid genera among the species described since 1908 that have had no modern treatment.²,³,⁴
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Scindapsus longistipitatus
2. Philippine Journal of Science 29: 353 (1926) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Scindapsus longistipitatus
4. Boyce & Wong 2015. Compendium Genera Aracearum Malesianum. Aroideana 38E(1): 40–177
6. Furtado 1935. Araceae Malesicae. The Gardens' Bulletin, Straits Settlements 8: 145–158
Additional photos by Peter C. Boyce, from the International Aroid Society
Additional photos from iNaturalist by mdoliveira, Lilian Baun and Oliver Ingold