ARUM KOROLKOWII
PROTOLOGUE: Arum korolkowii , published in Trudy Imperatorskago S.-Peterburgskago Botaničeskago Sada (Acta Horti Petropolitani) 2: 407 (1873). The protologue is reproduced below.
SYNONYMS:
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: Biarum sewerzowii Regel
DISTRIBUTION: N. Iran to C. Asia: Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tadzhikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: iNaturalist: Jalal-Abad, Jizzakh, Navoiy, Samarqand, Surxondaryo, Tashkent, Turkistan, districts of Republican Subordination.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Tuberous herb sprouting in early winter from a discoid, vertically orientated tuber 4–7 cm across, 2.5–3 cm thick. Petiole terete, 12–35 cm long, 4–5 mm wide, pale green with brownish green, rather diffuse longitudinal stripes. Leaf-blade sagittate-hastate to oblong-sagittate, apex acute to rather obtuse, 8–16 cm long, 5–13 cm wide, deep to mid-green.
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescence unscented. Peduncle exceeding the leaves, terete, 16–46 cm long, 5–7 mm wide, mid-green. Spathe 14–20 cm long; spathe-tube oblong-cylindric, 3–3.7 cm long, 1.5–2 cm wide, constricted apically, exterior mid-green, interior white; spathe-limb narrowly lanceolate, 11–17 cm long, 2.5–3 cm wide, erect, acuminate, externally mid-green, internally slightly paler with very faint purple flushing along the outer ⅓ of the limb. Spadix c. ⅔ as long as the spathe, 11–14 cm in total length; appendix cylindric-fusiform, shortly and stoutly stipitate, 8.8–10 cm long, 6–8 mm wide, dull cream, heavily marbled with reddish brown, darkening to purplish brown in the basal ⅓, stipe purple. Staminodes in 3 or 4 whorls, forming a zone 5–7 mm long; bristles filiform, flexuous, 3–4 mm long, pale purple; bases compressed-conic, verrucate, cream. Interstices: upper 1.5–2 mm long, verrucate, cream; lower 0–0.5 mm long, verrucate, with vestigal staminode bases, cream. Staminate flowers in a roughly quadratic zone 6–8 mm long, 5.5–7.5 mm wide; anthers and connectives mid-purple. Pistillodes in c. 4 whorls, forming a zone 3.5–4.5 mm long; bristles filiform, flexuous, 2.5–3.5 mm long, pale purple; bases bulbiform to conic, verrucate, cream. Pistillate flowers in an oblong-cylindric cluster 12–15 mm long, 7–9 mm wide; ovaries globose-oblong, 2.5–3 mm long, pale lime-green below, light green above; stigma cream. Fruiting spike oblong-cylindric, 5–6 cm long, 2–2.5 cm wide; berries oblong-pyriform, 5–10 mm long, 3–4.5 mm wide.
ECOLOGY:
Soil pockets in rocky hillsides, beneath low scrub; altitude: 1100-2500 m
DISTRIBUTION MAPS:
ETYMOLOGY:
For Nikolai Korolkow, the Russian officer and plant collector in Turkestan whose gathering Regel described the species from.
NOTES:
1. It falls in subsection Tenuifila with Arum jacquemontii and Arum rupicola, and pairs with Arum jacquemontii at full support in molecular phylogenies.¹²
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Arum korolkowii
2. Trudy Imperatorskago S.-Peterburgskago Botaničeskago Sada (Acta Horti Petropolitani) 2: 407 (1873) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Arum korolkowii
4. Boyce, P.C. 1993. The Genus Arum: a Kew Magazine Monograph. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
5. Boyce, P.C. 2006. Arum – a decade of change. Aroideana 29: 132–137.
9. Croat T.B. & Kostelac C.V 2006. Karl Koch's Career with Araceae and his Connection with America Family Photo of Karl Koch Found with Relative in St. Louis.
10. 2006. Studies on the Genus Arum (Araceae).
11. Gibernau et al 2003. Arum Pollen longevity & viability.