AMORPHOPHALLUS PUTII
PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus putii Gagnep., published in Notulae Systematicae (Paris) 9: 120 (1941). The protologue is reproduced below.
DISTRIBUTION: N. Myanmar to Thailand: Myanmar, Thailand.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Thailand: Saraburi Province - Muak Lek, where Put gathered the type (no. 1855).².
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Translated from protologue: Tuber unknown. Leaves trisect, the divisions 10 cm long and forked 1.5 cm from the base, the segments few, 2-3 to each branch, very unequal, the lowest minute at 15 x 10 mm, the uppermost similar but 8-9 cm long and 3 cm wide, cuspidate with an acumen 1 cm long, decurrent on the rachis, the wing narrowed at the base and 3-4 mm wide at the apex; petiole 22 cm long, slender.²
INFLORESCENCE:
Translated from protologue: Spathe lanceolate, 11-14 cm long, ovate-obtuse when spread and 9 cm wide, greenish-rose when dried; peduncle 26 cm long, accompanied by linear scales 5-14 cm long. Spadix 9-10 cm long; the female part 12-15 mm long, obconoid or cylindroid, 1 cm wide; the male part 10-17 mm long, cylindrical, 10-15 mm thick; appendix 8 cm long, oblong-fusiform, 15 mm thick at the middle, obtuse. Anthers oblong, the apex obtuse-truncate and 1 mm wide, dehiscing by linear opposite pores. Ovaries subglobose, truncate at the apex, 2 mm long, with a very short style whose length equals the width of the discoid stigma.²
PROPAGATION:
Our only attempt with this species resulted in 41.4% rooting from early August cuttings.
ETYMOLOGY:
Named for Phraya Winit Wanandorn, who collected under the name Put and whose gathering at Muak Lek is the type. Gagnepain described a number of Thai aroids from his collections.²
NOTES:
1. Gagnepain compares it to Amorphophallus tonkinensis, which it resembles in spathe, spadix, ovaries and stamens, but from which it differs in generally smaller dimensions, in fewer and abruptly cuspidate leaf segments, in a much narrower oblong appendix about 15 mm thick, and in a style shorter than the ovary and equal in length to the width of the stigma.²
2. The tuber has never been described.²
3. The species was published on the same pages as Amorphophallus napiger, in Gagnepain's account of new Indochinese aroids.²
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus putii Gagnep.
2. Notulae Systematicae (Paris) 9: 120 (1941) — protologue.
3. Alan Galloway — Amorphophallus putii, alangallowaybotanicals.com.
4. Propagation of Amorphophallus by Leaf Petiole Cuttings — Juniper Level Botanic Garden