ARUM SINTENISII
PROTOLOGUE: Arum sintenisii , published in Annales Musei Goulandris 9: 33 (1994 publ. 1995).
Arum sintenisii (Engler) P.C. Boyce, stat. nov. Arum orientale Bieb. subsp. elongatum (Steven) Engler var. sintenisii Engler, Das Pflanzenr. 73 (IV. 23F): 80 (1920). Type: Cyprus (Kypros), auf Triften bei Kythraea (Kythrea), 6 May 1880, Sintenis & Rigo 130 (holotype K!). Arum orientale Bieb. subsp. sintenisii (Engler) P.C. Boyce, The Genus Arum: 96 (1993). Boyce (1993) regarded this taxon as a subspecies of Arum orientale. Since then, study of further material and access to living plants have convinced me that it is a distinct species. Arum sintenisii has a different mode of inflorescence presentation and a sweet, not foetid odour when in flower. Arum sintenisii is restricted to the vicinity of Kythrea in Cyprus where is occurs as extensive stands.
SYNONYMS:
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Arum orientale subsp. sintenisii (Engl.) P.C.Boyce; Arum orientale var. sintenisii Engl.
DISTRIBUTION: NE. Cyprus, SW. Türkiye: Cyprus, Türkiye.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Tuberous herb sprouting in mid-autumn to late autumn from a discoid, horizontally orientated tuber 4–6 cm across, 2–2.5 cm thick. Petiole terete, 18–46 cm long, 3–7 mm wide, deep green, usually stained with purple, especially towards the base. Leaf-blade broadly hastate, apex obtuse to subacute, 8.5–25 cm long, 5.5–17 cm wide, deep green. Larger overall than Arum orientale.
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescence sweet-smelling, of fermenting fruit. Peduncle as long as the petioles, longer than in Arum orientale, terete, deep green, sometimes stained with purple. Spathe smaller and relatively narrower than in Arum orientale; spathe-tube oblong-cylindric, constricted apically, exterior mid-green with dull purple staining towards the margin and apex, fading to greenish white at the base, interior greenish white below, purple above; spathe-limb ovate to ovate-lanceolate, erect at first but the apex soon flopping forwards, acute to rather bluntly acute, externally pale to mid-green, heavily to moderately stained purple, median vein pale green, internally similarly coloured but with much heavier purple staining, apex mid-green. Spadix ⅓–½ as long as the spathe-limb; appendix slender-clavate to cylindric, stalkless, dull mid-purple. Staminodes in c. 2 whorls, yellow, flushed with purple; bases conic, ± smooth, yellow. Interstices: upper sparsely grooved, minutely verrucate, yellow; lower ± absent. Staminate flowers in a quadrate zone; anthers yellow with purple tips, connectives yellow. Pistillodes in 3 or 4 whorls; bristles filiform, flexuous, yellow, flushed with purple; bases compressed conic, smooth, deep yellow. Pistillate flowers in a globose-cylindric cluster; ovaries globose, dull olive-green, stained with purple apically; stigma papillose, green. Fruiting head cylindric; berries oblong. Germination epigeal.
ECOLOGY:
Uncultivated olive groves; altitude: 50-200 m
DISTRIBUTION MAPS:
ETYMOLOGY:
For Paul Sintenis (1847–1907), who collected the type near Kythrea in northern Cyprus in 1880 with Rigo.
NOTES:
1. Boyce treated it in 1993 as a subspecies of Arum orientale and raised it to species in 2006, at the same time referring to it every vouchered Cypriot record of Arum hygrophilum and a Cypriot plant he had earlier taken for a hybrid. Cyprus therefore has three species of Arum: this one, Arum rupicola and Arum dioscoridis var. cyprium.⁵
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Arum sintenisii
2. Annales Musei Goulandris 9: 33 (1994 publ. 1995) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Arum sintenisii
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.
8. 2006. Studies on the Genus Arum (Araceae).
Additional photos by David Scherberich