AMORPHOPHALLUS URCEOLATUS
PROTOLOGUE: Amorphophallus urceolatus Hett., A.Galloway & Medecilo, published in Blumea 65: 7 (2020).
Amorphophallus urceolatus Hett., A. Galloway & Medecilo, sp. nov. - Plate 4. Type: M.P. Medecilo 623 (holo PNH 256731; iso DLSU-DH), Philippines, Luzon (Mt Palpag, Maragondon, Cavite), 13 June 2015.
DISTRIBUTION: Philippines (Luzon): Philippines.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Philippines: Luzon - Mount Palpag in Cavite, Baras in Rizal and Mount Makiling in Laguna - and Mindanao, on the K'laja karst near General Santos City.².
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Tuber depressed globose, somewhat irregular with raised areas, producing no offsets, 6-12 cm across and 4-8 cm high. Petiole 45-120 cm long and 3-9 cm across, largely smooth but slightly to strongly warted near the base, blackish grey with smaller and larger elongate elliptical whitish spots. Lamina 60-120 cm across, the rachises winged above the basal branches; leaflets elongate elliptical, 1.5-15 cm long and 2.5-6 cm across, glossy green above and glossy pale green beneath, the margin wavy and the tip long acuminate.²
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescence solitary and short-peduncled, held at ground level. Spathe broadly oval and bell-shaped, 20 cm long and 25 cm across, the base convolute and separated from the limb by a shallow constriction; inside the base purple and warted, the warts slightly apart and sometimes with a few short grooves, outside pale green with scattered whitish rounded spots; the limb oblique to almost horizontal, inside pale to mid green at the base with the margin or nearly the whole surface pale to dark purple, the margin partly rolled inwards and more or less wavy, outside pale green with a faint purplish cast to purplish with greenish vertical bands, the whole surface with scattered whitish rounded spots and fewer small dot-like blackish green marks. Spadix shortly stalked, 22.2 cm long, slightly shorter to slightly longer than the spathe; female zone cylindric, 2.8 cm long and 2 cm across, the flowers slightly apart and sometimes absent from the upper 0.5 cm; male zone subcylindric with a constricted base, 3.5 cm long, 1.7 cm across at the base and 2.5 cm at the top, the flowers congested; appendix narrowly to broadly fusiform-conical, 16 cm long and 3.5 cm across just above the base, smooth, dark purple, tapering gradually or more abruptly to the top. Ovary depressed, 4 mm across and 3 mm high, 2-3-locular, pale or dark purple with a whitish base; style 5 mm long and 1 mm across, dark purple; stigma strongly or shallowly two-lobed, 1.5 mm high and 3 mm across on the long axis, the surface wrinkled, yellow to dirty greyish brown. Male flowers with 3-5 stamens in the lower part, indeterminable above; stamen 2 mm long and 1.2 mm across, off-white; filament free, 0.3 mm long and 1.2 mm across; theca truncate, 1.7 mm long and 1.2 mm across on the long axis, the pores slit-like and apical.²
DISTRIBUTION MAPS:
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin urceolus, “a little pitcher.” The spathe is broadly oval and bell-shaped, 20 cm long and 25 cm across, sitting at ground level like an urn.²
NOTES:
1. Four species in the Philippines carry their inflorescence on a short peduncle at ground level, and of those this one most resembles Amorphophallus yaoi. It differs in a spadix about as long as the spathe rather than much longer, a much shorter and broader appendix, and a stigma that is shallowly or strongly two-lobed.²
2. The inflorescence sits directly on the ground.²
3. Beyond the type locality the species is reported from several further sites, verified by the authors but not backed by collections.²
4. Flowers are sometimes missing from the top half-centimetre of the female zone.²
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Amorphophallus urceolatus Hett., A.Galloway & Medecilo
2. Blumea 65: 7 (2020) — protologue.
3. Alan Galloway — Amorphophallus urceolatus, alangallowaybotanicals.com.