SCINDAPSUS SCORTECHINII
PROTOLOGUE: Scindapsus scortechinii , published in The Flora of British India 6(19): 541 (1893).
Scindapsus scortechinii Hook.f., sp. nov. Branches deeply wrinkled when dry not muriculate, leaves 3–6 by 1½–2½ in. ovate orbicular or falcately lanceolate, acute or acuminate, base rounded or subcordate, primary nerves very obscure, petiole 2–5½ in. broadly winged, spathe 1½–2½ in. ovate acute or acuminate. Type: Perak; Scortechini, alt. 3–4000 ft., King's Collector; on Maxwell's Hill, Wray.
SYNONYMS:
OTHER NAMES: Phlu chang, พลูช้าง (Thai, Peninsular Thailand)
DISTRIBUTION: Bangladesh, Pen. Thailand to Pen. Malaysia: Bangladesh, Myanmar, Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Thailand: Yala Malaysia: Kedah, Perak, Selangor iNaturalist: Pahang.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Medium-sized, moderately robust, leptocaulous, homeophyllous, scandent secondary hemiepiphyte to 2 m. Stems terete, 1–1.5 cm diam., smooth, bright green when fresh, drying dark brown; stilt-roots stout, arising at each node. Leaves scattered; petiole 10–17 by 0.3–1 cm, apical and basal pulvini defined; petiolar sheath prominent, reaching to the base of the apical pulvinus, persistent; leaf blade ovate-lanceolate to ovate-elliptic, 10–16 by 4–12 cm, very stiffly coriaceous, base rounded, apex acute, with a prominent apiculate tubule, glossy green when fresh, drying dull orange-brown; midrib raised sharply abaxially, slightly sunken adaxially; primary venation pinnate, slightly raised abaxially; interprimaries parallel to primaries and only slightly less prominent, slightly raised abaxially; secondary and tertiary venation ± obscure in fresh material and dried specimens.⁴
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescence solitary, subtended by a fully developed foliage leaf, arising on a free lateral shoot; peduncle cylindrical, 6–12 by 0.3–0.4 cm; spathe ellipsoid-cigar-shaped, 6–11 by 3–3.5 cm, stoutly long-beaked, thinly stiff-fleshy, deep yellow, late-caducous; spadix fusiform-cylindrical, 5–8 by ca 1 cm, sessile, tapering markedly basally, inserted ± level on peduncle, white. Fruits not seen.⁴
ECOLOGY:
Found in evergreen upper hill rain forest on limestone in Yala, at about 850 m.⁴ altitude: 850 m
ETYMOLOGY:
Honors Benedetto Scortechini (1845–1886), the Italian priest and botanist who collected in Perak and whose specimens Hooker cited first among the type material.²
NOTES:
1. Hooker's diagnosis: branches deeply wrinkled when dry not muriculate, leaves 3–6 by 1½–2½ in. ovate orbicular or falcately lanceolate, acute or acuminate, base rounded or subcordate, primary nerves very obscure, petiole 2–5½ in. broadly winged, spathe 1½–2½ in. ovate acute or acuminate.²
2. Hooker added that the stem is scandent, as thick as a swan's quill or less, pale, wrinkled but otherwise quite smooth; the leaves thickly coriaceous with very many nerves, the primary hardly distinguishable from the secondary; the petiole winged to the knee or two-thirds of the way up; the peduncle much shorter than the petiole; the spathe yellowish on both surfaces; the spadix much shorter; and the berries about ¼ in. across the crown.²
3. Unique in Thailand by the scandent habit with a single, stout stilt root emerging at each node. The stiffly coriaceous leaves drying orange-brown are distinctive. In Thailand the species is known only from Yala, at the Malaysian border; its range is otherwise Peninsular Malaysia, where the type was collected.⁴
4. In the key to the Peninsular Malaysian species Scindapsus scortechinii is the scandent semi-terrestrial highland plant with small ovate leaves, up to 15 × 9 cm, medium green and slightly glossy, scattered along a sprawling stem, and a yellow spathe.⁵
5. Engler and Krause cited the species creeping between rocks on humus-rich soil in dense rain forest at 1000–1300 m, and from Gunong Batu at 1400 m, Maxwell's Hill at 1000 m, Bujong Malacca at 1300–1600 m, Bukit Kutu and Semangka in Selangor, and Kedah Peak. The monograph's account, with figure 31, gives a moderately stout stem 6–10 mm thick with internodes 3–8 cm long, petioles 7–12 cm long with a leathery persistent sheath reaching the strongly swollen geniculum, leathery obliquely ovate-oblong or ovate-lanceolate blades 10–15 cm long and 6–9 cm wide with a yellow midrib and fine subequal parallel veins scarcely prominent beneath, a stout peduncle 2.5–3.5 cm long, a fleshy ovate acuminate spathe 4–6 cm long and yellow on both surfaces, a sessile subcylindric spadix 3–3.5 cm long and 8–9 mm thick, and pentagonal or hexagonal pistils about 3.5 mm long with a small orbicular stigma.⁶
6. Boyce cites Scindapsus scortechinii at Genting Highlands in Selangor as an example of the Malesian Monstereae reaching montane kerangas.⁷
7. Kartini, Siva Rohgini and Boyce place Scindapsus scortechinii in the Scindapsus Coriaceus Complex as the only member occurring outside Borneo, in Peninsular Malaysia and southern Thailand; the complex is adapted to almost xerophytic conditions for part of the year and to intense sunlight, an ecology matched among aroids only by the largely lithophytic Brazilian species of Anthurium section Urospadix.⁸
8. The Araceae of Peninsular Malaysia names Scindapsus scortechinii, with Alocasia perakensis and Rhaphidophora nicolsonii, among the aroids of particular note in the montane forests of the peninsula, in a family that otherwise favours the lowlands.⁹
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Scindapsus scortechinii
2. The Flora of British India 6(19): 541 (1893) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Scindapsus scortechinii
6. Engler & Krause 1908. Araceae-Monsteroideae. Das Pflanzenreich IV.23B (Heft 37): 4–139
Additional photos by Patrick Blanc
Additional photos by David Scherberich
Additional photos from iNaturalist by Tim Woodward, Richard Dimon, Barron, Frank Walther, Ana Garcia, Cheongweei Gan, Michal Hroneš, Vojtěch Tobias Blažek, terrll and Eidiu