AMORPHOPHALLUS KONKANENSIS
PROTOLOGUE:Amorphophallus konkanensis Hett., S.R.Yadav & K.S.Patil, published in Blumea 39: 289 (1994).
Amorphophallus konkanensis Hett., Yadav & Patil, spec. nov. Ab Amorphophallo mysorensis Barnes et Fischer in floribus neutris semicomplanatis, placentatione basali, et ab Amorphophallo sylvatico (Roxb.) Kunth in dimensionibus maioribus, spatha fusca, placentatione basali differt. — Typus: K.S. Patil 4687-A (CAL holo), India, Maneri, Sindhudurg District, 15-v-1992. Paratypes: K. S. Patil 4687-B (BLAT), 4687-C (L), both same data as holotype.
SYNONYMS:
ACCEPTED INFRASPECIFICS: Amorphophallus konkanensis var. kinnerasaniensis J.Swamy & Rasingam Amorphophallus konkanensis var. konkanensis
DISTRIBUTION: India: India.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: India: Maharashtra (Konkan region; Sindhudurg District, the type locality); first recorded from the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh in 2017⁷; var. kinnerasaniensis was described from Kinnerasani (Telangana)¹. Beyond Maharashtra the species is reported from Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, and var. kinnerasaniensis is so far known only from the Kinnerasani Wildlife Sanctuary in Telangana.⁸
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Tuberous herb. Tuber globose or depressed globose, 3-8 cm in diam., 3-4.5 cm high, producing short, rhizomatous offsets. Leaf solitary; petiole smooth, 29-88 cm long, 0.6-1.5 cm in diam., brown or greenish brown, mottled pinkish and with whitish stripes; lamina 40-96 cm in diam., rhachises winged, except for the most proximal parts; leaflets lanceolate, acuminate, 4-19 cm long, 1-4 cm in diam.²
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescence long-peduncled; peduncle as petiole, 25-55 cm long, 0.3-1 cm in diam.; spathe erect, ovate, acute, not constricted, limb poorly differentiated from base, 3.3-8.5 cm long, 2.3-7 cm in diam., outside dirty pinkish with a brownish hue and faint brownish spots, veins dark purplish brown, inside maroon, base within dark maroon, longitudinally ridged. Spadix stipitate, up to twice as long as spathe, 9.5-16 cm long; stipe c. 0.5 cm long, green; female zone cylindric, 0.8-1.7 cm long, flowers congested; male zone cylindric, 1.8-3.1 cm long, flowers slightly distant; staminodial zone between female and male zone 0.6-1.5 cm long, staminodes congested; appendix elongate conic, apex blunt, 5.5-13 cm long, 0.5-1 cm in diam., dirty olive green. Ovaries depressed-globose, diamond-shaped in cross section, 2-3 mm in diam., 0.8-1 mm high, pale green, near the top becoming purplish, 3- or 4-locular, one basal ovule per locule; style short, cylindric or conic, 0.2-0.5 mm long, 1 mm in diam. (base), purplish; stigma large, subcircular or slightly irregular in cross section, 2 mm in diam., 0.7-1 mm high, verruculate, pale yellow, 3- or 4-lobed, lobes very shallowly conical or rounded, obtuse, separated by shallow grooves. Male flowers consisting of 4-6 stamens; stamens 1 mm long; filaments 0.2-0.3 mm long, entirely connate; anthers truncate, 0.7-0.8 mm long, 1-1.5 mm in diam., irregular in cross section, thecae whitish, connective brownish, pores apical, elongate, reniform or straight. Pollen psilate.²
ECOLOGY:
Found commonly throughout the Konkan forest on laterite soils, near bushes; flowering April-May, fruiting May-June². Var. kinnerasaniensis grows in shady places along streams in dry deciduous forest, in the company of Ampelocissus latifolia and Leea indica, and flowers and fruits from May to June; altitude: c. 200 m.⁸
ETYMOLOGY:
From Konkan, the long coastal region of western India between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea, combined with the Latin suffix-ensis, “from” or “of.” The name means “from the Konkan” and directly reflects the species’ distribution in southwestern Maharashtra, where it occurs in Konkan forests on lateritic soils.² The variety is named for the Kinnerasani Wildlife Sanctuary, where it was found.
NOTES:
1. Amorphophallus konkanensis is clearly a member of Amorphophallus sect. Rhaphiophallus (Schott) Engl., possessing the characteristic spathe-shape and staminodes. The general morphology and colour-pattern of Amorphophallus konkanensis are very similar to Amorphophallus mysorensis Barnes & Fischer from the state of Mysore (India), from which it differs markedly in the semi-flattened staminodes (vs. globose in Amorphophallus mysorensis) and the basal placentation (vs. axillary halfway up the length of the locule in Amorphophallus mysorensis). Three other species of sect. Rhaphiophallus possess similarly flattened staminodes as in Amorphophallus konkanensis, viz. Amorphophallus bonaccordensis, Amorphophallus hohenackeri and Amorphophallus sylvaticus, all from southern India.²
2. During dusk, between 1800 and 2015 h, the appendix emits rottening meat odor, which attracts Epuraea-Haptoncurina sp. (Nitidulidae) beetles. Surprisingly no other insects were observed visiting the inflorescence. Species belonging to the section Rhaphiophallus (Amorphophallus konkanensis and Amorphophallus sylvaticus) are pollinated by Epuraea-Haptoncurina sp. (Nitidulidae) beetles only.⁶
3. Two varieties are accepted: var. konkanensis and var. kinnerasaniensis.¹ ⁸
4. Var. kinnerasaniensis was described in 2020 from the Kinnerasani Wildlife Sanctuary in Telangana. Tubers gathered in the sanctuary were grown on in the garden of the Botanical Survey of India at Hyderabad, and it is one of those cultivated plants that furnished the type.⁸
5. The two varieties are told apart by the spathe. In var. kinnerasaniensis it is 15.5 cm long and clearly divided into a basal convolute tube and an upper limb, the two set apart by a distinct shallow constriction; in var. konkanensis it is 6-8 cm long and not divided into tube and limb at all. Two further characters run with the difference: the stipe is 5-10 mm long against up to 5 mm, and the staminodial zone 2.5-3.2 cm against 0.8-1.2 cm.⁸
6. Only a few plants of var. kinnerasaniensis were seen during the survey that found it, and it is assessed as Data Deficient pending further searching of the neighboring forest.⁸
7. The type locality is the Banjara Beat of the Regulagudem Section, in the Yanambailu Range of the Kinnerasani Wildlife Sanctuary, at 17.82468° N, 80.66724° E.⁸
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus konkanensis Hett., S.R.Yadav & K.S.Patil
2. Blumea 39: 289 (1994) — protologue.
3. Alan Galloway — Amorphophallus konkanensis, alangallowaybotanicals.com.
4. Aroideana 19 (1996):P7 - 131
7. Three new additions to the flora of Eastern Ghats. Nelumbo 59(1): 66-70 (2017)