AMORPHOPHALLUS MARGRETAE

PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus margretae Ittenb., published in Willdenowia 27: 156 (1997).

Amorphophallus margretae Ittenb., sp. nova Differt ab Amorphophallo gallaensi spadice spatham pauce superexstante, stylo valde breviore (max. 1 mm longo) et absentia columnae tabuliformis. — Holotypus: Zaire, Prov. Kivu, Terr. Kalehe, km 110 route Kavumu-Walikale, réserve IRSAC à Irangi, riv. Fulonko, 6.12.1956, A. R. Christiaensen 1918 (BR!).

DISTRIBUTION: E. DR Congo: DR Congo.

DISTRIBUTION NOTE: DR Congo: Kivu — Kalehe Territory, the Irangi reserve on the Kavumu-Walikale road (only known from the type collection)².

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Tuber irregular-globose to ovoid, 6-7 × 2.5-5.5 cm, laterally producing cylindrical and conical offsets of 1-1.2 × 0.5-0.6 cm. Leaf unknown. Cataphylls 3, the inner one c. 9-10 × 1.5-2 cm, the outer ones much shorter, dark with darker veins.²

INFLORESCENCE:

Inflorescence erect, appearing before the leaf, c. 80 cm long, long-peduncled; peduncle smooth, 50-52 × 0.6-1 cm, with small roundish spots; spathe 24 cm long, either without a constriction or separated by a shallow constriction in a cylindrical tube and an erect, rimshaped to elongate-triangular limb; tube 8.5-9 × 3.5-4 cm, outside purple, inside basally smooth, with shallowly elevated dark veins; limb 14.5-15 × 6-7 cm, purple, margin undulate. Spadix sessile, c. 28-30 cm long, somewhat longer than spathe; pistillate zone cylindrical, 3 × 1.5 cm, flowers distant; staminate zone cylindrical, 7-8 × 0.6-1 cm, flowers distant; appendix conical, 16-17 cm long, 0.6-2 cm in diameter, smooth and velvetlike, above the staminate zone with a shallow constriction; staminodes absent; without a sterile zone between the pistillate and staminate zone. Pistillate flowers 5-6 mm long; ovaries elongate-ovoid, 3-4.5 × 2-3 mm, unilocular; style slender, 0.6-1 mm long and very thin, slightly curved, darker than ovary; stigma 0.5-0.8 × 0.5-0.6 mm, facing sideways, unlobed and head-shaped or with two roundish humps. Staminate flowers 0.7-1 × 0.8-1.1 mm, with 3-4 stamens; anthers free, globose to cubic with rounded edges; connective with two small grooves, darker than thecae; filaments only 0.1-0.3 mm long, free or sometimes basally connate but not forming a columna; pores circular, one apical pore per theca. Infructescence and pollen unknown.²

DISTRIBUTION MAPS:

ETYMOLOGY:

Ittenbach dedicated the species to his mother, Margret Ittenbach, née Patzwald.²

NOTES:

1. Amorphophallus margretae belongs to the same East African section as Amorphophallus gallaensis, from which it differs in the spadix only slightly exceeding the spathe, the much shorter style (at most 1 mm long) and the absence of a table-shaped columna.²

REFERENCES:

1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus margretae Ittenb.

2. Willdenowia 27: 156 (1997) — protologue.