AMORPHOPHALLUS MOSSAMBICENSIS

PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus mossambicensis (Schott ex Garcke) N.E.Br., published in Flora of Tropical Africa 8: 150 (1901). The protologue is reproduced below.

SYNONYMS:

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Corynophallus mossambicensis (Schott ex Garcke) Kuntze in Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 741 (1891) Hydrosme mossambicensis Schott ex Garcke in W.C.H.Peters, Naturw. Reise Mossambique 6(Bot., 2): 509 (1864)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: Amorphophallus linearilobus Peter in Nachr. Ges. Wiss. Göttingen, Math.-Phys. Kl. 3: 191, 215 (1929 publ. 1930) Amorphophallus swynnertonii Rendle in J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 40: 219 (1911)

DISTRIBUTION: C. Tanzania to S. Trop. Africa: Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, DR Congo, Zimbabwe.

DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Mozambique: the Lower Zambezi — the mountains of Lupata and other places in the Rios de Sena (Peters's original collections); Malawi: North Nyasaland, on the banks of the Nsessi River in damp sand.².

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Tuber depressed, about 2-2.5 in. diam. Leaf not seen.²

INFLORESCENCE:

Peduncle 6-9 in. long, smooth. Spathe erect; tube 1.5-2 in. long, about 1.5 in. diam. at the mouth, campanulate-infundibuliform; limb probably very concave, 3.5-4.5 in. long, 3-3.5 in. broad when flattened out, suberect, broadly ovate, obtuse or subacute, undulated, dark purple. Spadix about equalling or a little shorter than the spathe; flowering part cylindric, dense, female part about 0.5 in. long, male part 1-1.25 in. long; appendix 2-3.5 in. long, rather slender, cylindric or slightly tapering upwards, obtuse. Ovary ellipsoid, 1-celled; stigma discoid, sessile.²

ETYMOLOGY:

Named for Mozambique, where Wilhelm Peters collected the original material on his 1842-1848 expedition; Klotzsch's name was taken up by Garcke in the botany of Peters's Reise nach Mossambique.²

NOTES:

1. The species began as Corynophallus mossambicensis, published by Garcke from Klotzsch's manuscript in the botanical volume of Peters's Reise nach Mossambique, with a plate (t. 56); N.E. Brown transferred it to Amorphophallus in the Flora of Tropical Africa in 1901, and Kuntze's combination in Corynophallus is a further synonym.²

REFERENCES:

1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus mossambicensis (Schott ex Garcke) N.E.Br.

2. Flora of Tropical Africa 8: 150 (1901) — protologue.

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

4. iNaturalist: Amorphophallus mossambicensis

5. Revision der afrikanischen Arten der Gattung Amorphophallus (Araceae). Englera 25: 1-263 (2003)