AMORPHOPHALLUS HARMANDII

PROTOLOGUE:Amorphophallus harmandii Engl. & Gehrm., published in Pflanzenr., IV, 23C: 83 (1911). The protologue is reproduced below.

SYNONYMS:

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: Amorphophallus parvulus Gagnep. in Notul. Syst. (Paris) 9: 121 (1941)

DISTRIBUTION: Indo-China: Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Tuber shortly elongate, often irregularly branched when mature, dark brown, length to ca. 6 cm, diam. at the top to ca. 2.5 cm, multiplying through the loosening of the branches. Leaf solitary; petiole smooth, 13–35 cm long, 0.5–0.8 cm in diam. (base), entirely green, yellowish to reddish brown or streaked purple and greyish; lamina moderately or highly dissected, 16–35 cm in diam.; leaflets obovate to broadly elliptic, acute-acuminate, base decurrent, 2–12 cm long, 1–6 cm in diam., upper surface very dark green to blackish green, margin bright pink, main vein pale yellowish, lower surface greyish green with dark green venation.

INFLORESCENCE:

Inflorescence solitary, long-peduncled; peduncle as petiole, 3–35 cm long, 0.4–0.7 cm in diam. (base); spathe erect, base convolute, limb constricted at the base, margins involute, top fornicate, acute, 4–10 cm long, 2–6.5 cm in diam., outside base pale green with thin brown veins, limb off-white veins paler towards the top, margin with a faint pinkish hue, inside similar, base within sparingly or densely clothed with fleshy, inconspicuous or shortly elongate warts with thickened and irregularly scabrate top-parts. Spadix sessile, longer to much longer than spathe, 8–19 cm long.

ECOLOGY:

Found in deciduous forest, under bamboo, and in dry deciduous dipterocarp forest, 50–200 m alt.

ETYMOLOGY:

Named in honor of François-Jules Harmand (1845–1921), a French naval physician, naturalist, explorer, and diplomat who traveled extensively in Indochina and participated in its early botanical exploration. The Latinized epithet harmandii means “of Harmand.” Note that this name is the Amorphophallus harmandii Engl. & Gehrm. listed from Cambodia in the monograph, not the former Pseudodracontium harmandii discussed separately in older literature

NOTES:

1. Originally described and subsequently treated as Amorphophallus parvulus Gagnep.; this name is now considered a synonym of Amorphophallus harmandii. The description above reflects material historically identified as Amorphophallus parvulus and may therefore represent only part of the morphological variation currently encompassed by Amorphophallus harmandii.

REFERENCES:

1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus harmandii Engl. & Gehrm.

2. Pflanzenr., IV, 23C: 83 (1911) — protologue.

3. Alan Galloway — Amorphophallus harmandii, alangallowaybotanicals.com.

4. Aroideana 19 (1996):P7 - 131 - description of synonym Amorphophallus parvulus