AMORPHOPHALLUS LEWALLEI
PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus lewallei Malaisse & Bamps, published in Bull. Jard. Bot. Natl. Belg. 62: 175 (1993).
Amorphophallus lewallei Malaisse & Bamps sp. nov.; affinis Amorphophallus goetzei (Engl.) N.E. Br. sed spadicis sterili appendice perspicue breviore dimidioque superiore dense verrucosa (appendice omnino laevi in Amorphophallus goetzei) atque ovario uniloculari (biloculari in Amorphophallus goetzei) valde differt. — Type: BURUNDI, Prov. Buhanza, vallée de la Katurungu, Kihunga, alt. 900 m, savane sous Acacia, nov. 1969, Lewalle 4009 (BR holotype, K iso-).
DISTRIBUTION: Burundi: Burundi.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Burundi: Bubanza Province — the Katurungu valley (Kihunga) and Kagongwe, at 900 m².
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Tuber depressed, saucer-shaped, 3.5-20 cm in diam., developing several offsets, these rhizomatous, 5-25 cm long. Leaf developing simultaneously with inflorescence; petiole smooth, glossy, pale green with whitish green punctuation, diminishing upwards, or moss-green with a few white, short stripes and many small, dark moss-green, elliptic spots, diminishing upwards, the lower third sometimes with a faint purplish hue, 30-140 cm long, 1.5-6 cm in diam. at the base; lamina to 160 cm in diam.; leaflets elliptic, acuminate, base decurrent on the rachis, upper side green or greyish green, often slightly glaucous, lower side green, 14-29 cm long, 5.5-8.0 cm in diam.⁴
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescence nearly sessile; peduncle 4-8 cm long, after fertilization lengthening to 150 cm, colored as petiole; spathe with a strong constriction above or at the middle of the male zone, 15-29 cm long; base convolute, obliquely compressed to various degrees, the ventral part always less compressed than the dorsal part, 3.5-10 cm long, 7.5-16 cm in diam.; outside glossy pale green with a few small, white spots; inside base (lower half) a dirty brownish purple, upper half very pale green up to the constriction or extending slightly beyond, or the entire base brownish purple, the purple part with deep, radial grooves, ridges densely verrucose; warts separated by deep lengthwise grooves, surface of warts with short, rounded or subulate lobes and/or variously folded; limb broadly triangular, at first horizontal, often at female anthesis actively curving forward and pressed against the appendix, 10-20 cm long, 10-29 cm broad, apex acute, margin irregularly sinuous, main veins on dorsal side very strong, outside basally glossy dark green and with a dark purple-brown hue or only dark green, the margin reddish brown, the main veins very pale green, inside at constriction off-white, at the top of the constriction a pale purple-brown hue, the middle part mixed with dark emerald-green, the entire margin velvety, dark emerald-green. Spadix sessile or with a very short, ventral, naked part, excentrically inserted, close to the ventral part of the spathe base, 16-33 cm long.⁴
ECOLOGY:
Found on open grassland; the type was collected in Acacia savanna at 900 m.⁴
ETYMOLOGY:
Named in honor of José Lewalle (1931–2004), a botanist whose work contributed to the documentation of Central African flora. Lewalle collected the material from Burundi upon which the species was based, and his name is commemorated in a number of African plant taxa. The Latinized epithet lewallei means “of Lewalle.”
NOTES:
1. Amorphophallus lewallei is in many morphological respects similar to Amorphophallus goetzei but differs principally in the sculpturing and color of the appendix. Small specimens of Amorphophallus lewallei also resemble Amorphophallus eichleri but differ again in appendix characters and the much longer spathe limb.⁴
2. Translated from the protologue: "related to Amorphophallus goetzei, but differing strongly in the distinctly shorter sterile appendix, densely verrucose in its upper half (entirely smooth in Amorphophallus goetzei), and in the unilocular ovary (bilocular in Amorphophallus goetzei)."²
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus lewallei Malaisse & Bamps
2. Bull. Jard. Bot. Natl. Belg. 62: 175 (1993) — protologue.
3. Alan Galloway — Amorphophallus lewallei, alangallowaybotanicals.com.
4. Aroideana 19 (1996):P7 - 131
5. Revision der afrikanischen Arten der Gattung Amorphophallus (Araceae). Englera 25: 1-263 (2003)