AMORPHOPHALLUS KRAUSEI
PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus krausei Engl., published in Pflanzenr., IV, 23C: 94 (1911). The protologue is reproduced below.
SYNONYMS:
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: Amorphophallus pachystylis Hett. in Blumea 39: 268 (1994) Amorphophallus sutepensis Gagnep. in Notul. Syst. (Paris) 9: 123 (1941) Amorphophallus ximengensis H.Li in J. Wuhan Bot. Res. 6: 212 (1988) Amorphophallus zengianus C.L.Long & H.Li in Novon 10: 125 (2000)
OTHER NAMES: 西盟蘑芋 (xīméng móyù, Chinese); Lincheishu (Manipuri)
DISTRIBUTION: Assam (Manipur) to China (Yunnan) and Indo-China: Bangladesh, China South-Central, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: India: Manipur, where the species was first recorded for India in 2017 (Nongmaiching and Andro, Imphal East District)⁵.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Tuber globose, sometimes slightly subcylindric, with a deep central depression, 5-25 cm in diam, 4-8 (or more) cm high, dirty pale yellowish, brownish or orangish, seasonally developing several offsets; offsets rhizomatous, long, thin, apex slightly thickened or not so, 2-27 cm long, 0.4-1.0 cm in diam. Leaf solitary; petiole smooth, 20-125 cm long, 1.0-3.0 cm in diam. (base), ground color pale green, at the base often pale pink or with a reddish-brown or reddish hue, with many, smaller and larger, elliptic, partly or nearly entirely confluent, elliptic to narrowly elliptic, blackish green or paler green or rarely reddish brown spots and several, small, white dots, the intensity of colors and the extension of the pattern variable; lamina 100-160 cm in diam.; leaflets lanceolate, rarely elliptic, acuminate, base decurrent, 11-48 cm long, 2-11 cm in diam., upper side green or greyish green, lower side paler green.⁴
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescence long-peduncled; peduncle as petiole but smaller, 25-100 cm long, 0.8-2.0 cm in diam. (base); spathe erect, cymbiform, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, base convolute, convolute part 4-6 cm long, top acute-acuminate, 11-33 cm long, 6-16 cm in diam., outside pale green, to the base slightly darker, inside pale yellowish-green, base sometimes maroonish, base inside with many, small, slightly elongate or irregularly ridge-shaped warts. Spadix nearly as long as spathe, rarely distinctly shorter or slightly longer, 8-22.5 cm, between male and female zone a zone of small, slightly raised sterile male flowers (staminodes).⁴
ECOLOGY:
Found in shaded to open, often fire-prone places in mixed primary evergreen/deciduous forest and deciduous dipterocarp forest, often mixed with bamboo, on granite bedrock, sometimes near streams; lowland to ca. 1500 m⁴
PROPAGATION:
Rooting percentages ranged from a low of 0% in early September cuttings to 39.6% for early August cuttings. Even with proper timing, this was among the most difficult species to root.
ETYMOLOGY:
Almost certainly named in honor of Kurt Krause (1883–1963), a German botanist who joined Adolf Engler at the Berlin Botanical Garden in 1905 and became an important specialist in Araceae. Krause authored numerous treatments of aroids during the period when Engler’s classification of the family was being developed. The Latinized epithet krausei means “of Krause.”
NOTES:
1. Amorphophallus krausei is most similar to the Chinese Amorphophallus albus, but the latter has rugulose staminodes. The odor of Amorphophallus krausei is very upsetting and is reminiscent of a gas leak.⁴
2. The species was recorded for India for the first time in 2017, from Nongmaiching and Andro in Imphal East District, Manipur, where it is known as Lincheishu. Four names are regarded as synonyms of Amorphophallus krausei: Amorphophallus pachystylis, Amorphophallus sutepensis, Amorphophallus ximengensis and Amorphophallus zengianus.⁵
3. The spadix develops considerable heat at female anthesis, producing a heavy, gaseous, nauseating stench.⁶
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus krausei Engl.
2. Pflanzenr., IV, 23C: 94 (1911) — protologue.
3. Alan Galloway — Amorphophallus krausei, alangallowaybotanicals.com.
4. Aroideana 19 (1996):P7 - 131
6. Flora of China: Amorphophallus krausei
7. Flora of Thailand: Amorphophallus krausei
8. Propagation of Amorphophallus by Leaf Petiole Cuttings — Juniper Level Botanic Garden