SCINDAPSUS SUMATRANUS
PROTOLOGUE: Scindapsus sumatranus , published in Telopea 9: 170 (2000).
Scindapsus sumatranus (Miq.) P.C.Boyce & A.Hay, comb. nov. Basionym: Schismatoglottis sumatrana Schott ex Miq., Annales Musei Botanici Lugduno-Batavi 3: 80 (1867). Type: Indonesia, Sumatera, West Sumatera, Balang Singalang, P. W. Korthals s.n. (?L, holotype, not seen). Iconotype: Schott, Icones 3082 (W).
SYNONYMS:
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Schismatoglottis sumatrana Schott
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: Scindapsus rupestris Ridl.; Scindapsus rupestris var. siamensis (Engl.) Engl.; Scindapsus siamensis Engl.
DISTRIBUTION: Sumatera: Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Thailand.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Indonesia: West Sumatra Malaysia: Melaka, Perak, Sarawak Myanmar: Mon.
ETYMOLOGY:
Of Sumatra, where Korthals collected the plant on Balang Singalang, Mount Singgalang in West Sumatra; the epithet is Miquel's, from the basionym Schismatoglottis sumatrana.²
NOTES:
1. Hay and Yuzammi could not find the type of Schismatoglottis sumatrana, but Schott's unpublished illustration showed it to be clearly a member of the Monstereae, and they judged the epithet to be an earlier name for Scindapsus rupestris, a species widespread in western Malesia; Scindapsus rupestris was accordingly listed as a synonym.²
2. No description accompanies the combination; the name rests on Miquel's Schismatoglottis sumatrana of 1867 and on Schott's drawing of Korthals's Sumatran plant.²
3. Kartini, Siva Rohgini and Boyce list Scindapsus sumatranus among the seven described species of the Scindapsus Coriaceus Complex, alongside Scindapsus rupestris, which Hay and Yuzammi had placed in its synonymy.³
4. Aroidpedia accepts the synonymy. Under the house rule that a published journal article takes precedence over Plants of the World Online, Scindapsus rupestris Ridl. is treated here as a synonym of this species and its range is counted under this name, which is why the geography given above spans Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Thailand rather than Sumatra alone. The abstract of the revision states the synonymy without qualification, and the index sets Scindapsus rupestris in italic with a roman page number, which by that index's own legend marks a synonym rather than a formal treatment. Two cautions stay on the record: the discussion on page 170 is hedged, saying only that the epithet is evidently an earlier one for Scindapsus rupestris, and the authors could not trace the type of the basionym, resting the placement on Schott's drawing.²
STORY:
STORY TITLE: A species known from a drawing
Scindapsus sumatranus has never been described. Its name begins with Schismatoglottis sumatrana, which Miquel published in 1867 from a plant that Pieter Willem Korthals had collected on Balang Singalang, Mount Singgalang in West Sumatra, and which Engler carried through his monographs of 1879 and 1912 as a Schismatoglottis. When Alistair Hay and Yuzammi revised that genus for Malesia in 2000 they could not find Korthals's type, but Schott's unpublished drawing of the plant, Icones 3082 in Vienna, made it clear that it belonged to the Monstereae, and they judged the epithet to be an earlier name for Scindapsus rupestris, Ridley's rock-creeper of 1905, which they called widespread in western Malesia. Their combination Scindapsus sumatranus rests on that drawing and that judgment.²
The synonymy has not been generally followed. Plants of the World Online keeps Scindapsus rupestris as an accepted species alongside Scindapsus sumatranus, and Kartini, Siva Rohgini and Boyce listed the two separately in 2015 among the seven named species of the Scindapsus Coriaceus Complex, the thick-leaved, smooth-stemmed plants of exposed kerangas that they consider manifestly under-described. Aroidpedia follows the revision rather than the checklist, and counts Ridley's rock-creeper under this name, so the range given here runs from Sumatra through Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand to Borneo. It is a decision taken on a drawing and an abstract, and it can be undone: until fresh Sumatran collections are matched against Ridley's Bornean type, the plant behind the name remains Schott's drawing.³
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Scindapsus sumatranus
2. Telopea 9: 170 (2000) — protologue.
Additional photos by David Scherberich