AMORPHOPHALLUS STAUDTII

PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus staudtii (Engl.) N.E.Br., published in Flora of Tropical Africa 8: 154 (1901).

17. Amorphophallus staudtii, N. E. Br. Leaf unknown. Peduncle about 1½ in. long. Spathe about 3½ in. long and 2½ in. diam., convolute, campanulate, undulated on the pale brown margin; basal half of the tube covered inside with numerous filiform processes, blackish-purple. Spadix about twice as long as the spathe; male and female parts each about 5 lin. long, about ⅓ in. thick, cylindric; appendix 5½-6 in. long, about ¼ in. thick at the base, slender, tail-like. Ovary ovoid; stigma sessile, broadly orbicular. - Hydrosme Staudtii, Engl. Jahrb. xxvi. 420. Upper Guinea. Cameroons: Johann Albrechts-Höhe, near Barombi, Staudt, 767.

SYNONYMS:

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Hydrosme staudtii Engl. in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 26: 420 (1899)

DISTRIBUTION: W. & S. Cameroon to Congo: Cameroon, Congo.

DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Cameroon: Johann-Albrechts-Höhe near Barombi, where Staudt gathered the material the species rests on.².

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

The leaf has never been described.²

INFLORESCENCE:

Peduncle about 1½ inches [about 4 cm] long. Spathe about 3½ inches [about 9 cm] long and 2½ inches [about 6 cm] across, convolute, bell-shaped, undulate on the pale brown margin; the basal half of the tube covered inside with numerous thread-like processes, blackish-purple. Spadix about twice as long as the spathe; the male and female parts each about 5 lines [about 1 cm] long and about a third of an inch [about 8 mm] thick, cylindric; appendix 5½-6 inches [about 14-15 cm] long and about a quarter of an inch [about 6 mm] thick at the base, slender and tail-like. Ovary ovoid; stigma sessile, broadly orbicular.²

ETYMOLOGY:

Named for Staudt, who gathered the plant at Johann-Albrechts-Höhe near Barombi in Cameroon. Engler published it first as Hydrosme staudtii, and N. E. Brown moved it into Amorphophallus in the Flora of Tropical Africa.²

NOTES:

1. The leaf has never been described. Everything known of the species comes from flowering material.²

2. N. E. Brown states plainly that he had not seen the plant himself; his account rests on Engler's description of Hydrosme staudtii.²

3. He judged it very closely allied to Amorphophallus eichleri, differing in the thread-like processes lining the lower half of the spathe tube and in a more slender appendix.²

4. The appendix dominates the inflorescence - 14-15 cm of slender tail above a spathe of about 9 cm.²

REFERENCES:

1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus staudtii (Engl.) N.E.Br.

2. Flora of Tropical Africa 8: 154 (1901) — protologue.