AMORPHOPHALLUS SYLVATICUS
PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus sylvaticus (Roxb.) Kunth, published in Enumeratio Plantarum 3: 34 (1841).
13. A.SYLVATICUS. Foliis supradecompositis; foliolis lanceolatis; spadice stricto, spatha 2-3plo breviore; hac gibba, campanulata; antheris 2-locularibus. Roxb. - Montes Circars. ♃ Radix tuberosa. Caulis nullus. Folia longissime petiolata, glabra. Scapus erectus, longitudine petiolorum, glaber. Clava reliqua parte spadicis triplo longior, subulata. Stamina crebra, spadicem intra spatham occupantia, sessilia, subrotunda, bilocularia, apice dehiscentia. Staminodia glabra, irregularia, glandulosa, inter stamina et ovaria. Ovaria crebra, globosa, basim spadicis cingentia, triovulata. Stylus brevissimus. Stigma magnum, trilobum, glutinosum, flavum. Baccae 1-3-spermae. (Roxb.) Distinguitur ab Amorphophallis spadice inter stamina et ovaria staminodiis obsito.
SYNONYMS:
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Arum sylvaticum Roxb. in Fl. Ind., ed. 1832. 3: 511 (1832) Brachyspatha sylvatica (Roxb.) Schott in Syn. Aroid.: 35 (1856) Pythonium sylvaticum (Roxb.) Wight in Icon. Pl. Ind. Orient.: t. 802 (1844) Synantherias sylvatica (Roxb.) Schott in Gen. Aroid.: t. 28 (1858)
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: Amorphophallus zeylanicus Blume in Rumphia 1: 148 (1837) Brachyspatha zeylanica (Blume) Schott in Syn. Aroid.: 36 (1856)
DISTRIBUTION: W. & S. India, Sri Lanka: India, Sri Lanka.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: India: the Northern Circars, the coastal tract of what is now Andhra Pradesh, given as the only region.².
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Translated from protologue: Root tuberous; no stem. Leaves very long-petioled and hairless, more than twice compound, the leaflets lanceolate.²
INFLORESCENCE:
Translated from protologue: Scape erect, as long as the petioles, hairless. Spadix straight, two or three times shorter than the spathe, which is humped and bell-shaped; the club above the rest of the spadix three times as long as it and awl-shaped. Stamens crowded, filling the part of the spadix within the spathe, sessile, nearly round, two-chambered, opening at the apex; the anthers two-chambered. Staminodes hairless, irregular and glandular, standing between the stamens and the ovaries. Ovaries crowded and globose, encircling the base of the spadix, with three ovules; style very short; stigma large, three-lobed, sticky, yellow. Berries with one to three seeds.²
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin sylvaticus, “of the woods.” Roxburgh's material came from the hill forests of the Northern Circars, and the epithet records the habitat rather than any character of the plant.²
NOTES:
1. ⚠ Kunth printed the name with a question mark - “A. ? sylvaticus” - and placed it in a section headed species imperfecte notae, imperfectly known species. The two entries either side of it, Amorphophallus lyratus and Amorphophallus margaritifer, carry the same query. The descriptive matter is Roxburgh's, quoted by Kunth.²
2. The doubt was about the genus, not the plant. Kunth ends the entry by saying it is told from Amorphophallus by having the spadix set with staminodes between the stamens and the ovaries - a band of sterile flowers where other species of the genus have none.²
3. That character later carried the species into its own section, Synantherias, which was kept separate for close to a century before being merged back into section Rhaphiophallus.⁵
4. Against Amorphophallus smithsonianus, the species it is most often set beside, it has a convolute and cylindric spathe with an acute tip, a stalked spadix, oblong and one-sidedly swollen neuter flowers, a more or less three-lobed stigma, and an appendix that is more than twice the length of the spathe but always stands erect rather than bending over.⁵
5. The ovary carries three ovules and the berry one to three seeds.²
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus sylvaticus (Roxb.) Kunth
2. Enumeratio Plantarum 3: 34 (1841) — protologue.
3. Alan Galloway — Amorphophallus sylvaticus, alangallowaybotanicals.com.
4. iNaturalist: Amorphophallus sylvaticus
6. Das Pflanzenreich IV.23c (Araceae-Lasioideae), Fig. 35: 102 (1911)