AMORPHOPHALLUS ELLIOTII

PROTOLOGUE:Amorphophallus elliotii Hook.f., published in Curtis' Botanical Magazine 120: t. 7349 (1894).

Amorphophallus (Podophallus) Elliotii; tubere globoso depresso, petiolo elato, lamina ampla trisecta segmentis pinnatisectis lineari-lanceolatis acuminatis, spatha longe pedunculata tubo latissimo doliforme cylindraceo vix longiore quam lato basi truncato profundo intruso et in conum sulcatum spadicem fulcientem producto, lamina tubo continua eo æquilonga galeata acuta ore valde contracto marginibus incurvis, spadice inclusa longiuscule stipitata, inflorescentia mascula conoidea basi verticilla dua ovariorum gerente, appendice stipitato erecto conoideo obtuso, antheris parvis biporosis, ovariis obovoideis apice contractis stigmate minuto coronatis.

SYNONYMS:

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Hydrosme elliottii (Hook.f.) Engl. in H.G.A.Engler & C.G.O.Drude, Veg. Erde 9(II): 243 (1908)

DISTRIBUTION: Sierra Leone, Guinea?

DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Historical locality: “Near Wallia,” Upper Guinea, collected by G. F. Scott-Elliot during the Sierra Leone Boundary Commission of 1891–1892. The original protologue and subsequent treatments attributed the locality to Sierra Leone. However, Gledhill’s reconstruction of Scott-Elliot’s itinerary concluded that Wallia lies in present-day Guinea, and several other Scott-Elliot collections from Wallia have subsequently been reassigned from Sierra Leone to Guinea. The precise modern administrative location of the Amorphophallus elliotii type has not been independently established.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Tuber about 4 inches in diameter, oblate, bearing a few bulbils. Petiole a foot high, rather slender, pale greyish blue, with elongate reddish-brown blotches; lamina about 18 inches broad, trisect; divisions sessile, pinnatisect; segments 4–8 in. long, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, quite entire, bright green, pale beneath.

INFLORESCENCE:

Peduncle like the petiole. Spathe very short and broad; tube 2 inches long, and nearly as broad, cylindric, barrel-shaped, dull pink, with pale green spots; base truncate and deeply intruded, drawn up in the middle into a broad cone that supports the spadix; lamina continuous with the tube, but hardly as long, galeate, incurved, with an acute point, dull green, copiously blotched and marbled with dull purple, deep purple within; mouth contracted, with incurved margins. Spadix included, stipes half an inch long; male infl. a cone ¾ of an inch long, with two whorls of ovaries at its base; anthers minute; appendix stipitate, 1 in. long, erect, conoid, obtuse, pale purple. Ovaries globosely ovoid, tip contracted with a punctiform stigma, 1-celled, 1-ovuled.

ECOLOGY:

Growing among low grass

ETYMOLOGY:

Amorphophallus elliotii was named after Mr. G. F. Scott Elliot, Botanist to the Sierra Leone Boundary Commission, who discovered in forests of Sierra Leone. He then sent (Kew) Royal Gardens in 1892 where it was reported to flower in a stove (heated greenhouse) in April of the same year, and produced its leaf in the following August.

NOTES:

1. Though it has not been found since it was first described, Wilber Hetterscheid stated in 2007 that Amorphophallus elliotii is obviously very closely related with Amorphophallus aphyllus and Amorphophallus dracontioides and that he checked the pollentype, which is exactly the rare echinate type, shared between Amorphophallus elliottii and the other two. The leaf is similar to that of the other two, with the individual leaflets lanceolate

REFERENCES:

1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus elliotii Hook.f.

2. Curtis' Botanical Magazine 120: t. 7349 (1894) — protologue.

3. Jay's Bar - Discover Sierra Leone

4. Das Pflanzenreich IV.23c (Araceae-Lasioideae), Fig. 24: 68 (1911)