Araceae
Typhonium

Typhonium medusae Hett. & Sookch.

First published in Aroideana 24: 41 (2001)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Central Thailand. It is a tuberous geophyte and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

CATE Araceae, 17 Dec 2011. araceae.e-monocot.org

Distribution

Thailand. Endemic.

General Description

Deciduous herb to 0.5 m tall. Subterranean stem a subglobose tuber, to 6 cm across × 4 cm high, brownish. Pseudostem to 20 cm long. Leaves 1–2; cataphylls green, chequered dark pink; petiole to 25 × 1–1.5 cm, white-green or carmine; leaf blade trifoliolate; leaflets elliptic or obovate, to 35 × 18 cm, margins entire, apex acuminate ending in a short arista, base convex; central leaflet with a petiolule to 4 cm long; lateral leaflets with a petiolule to 1.5 cm long, plain green, with impressed veins above, underside with raised veins. Inflorescence more or less held at foliage level; peduncle equalling or shorter than the petiole, pale green; spathe tube cylindrical, slightly constricted near the mouth, 2.5–6 × 1–2 cm, white-green with faint darker veins near the base, white at the base; spathe mouth margins hardly recurved, green; spathe limb lanceolate, horizontal, nearly the length of the tube and scarcely wider, outside and inside yellow-green with a white spot at throat level, tip long-acuminate; spadix appendix protruding from the tube, but shorter than the spathe, bent forward, conical, ending in a naked and subulate tail, 5–6 cm long × 4–6 mm across at base, smooth, dull olive-green, sessile with carmine or green, stiff and short bristles above the fertile part; fertile zone staminate or pistillate, 1.5–2.5 cm long; staminate flowers loosely arranged, 2–3-androus, anthers white and dark purple at top, on a short stalk; thecae dehiscent by an oval pore; pistillate flowers densely arranged; ovaries ovoid, truncate at the top dark green with white striations; stigma on a short style, penicillate, white. Infructescence on an erect peduncle, cylindrical, 8 × 3 cm; fruits ca 10 × ca 7 mm, prismatic, apically flattened, red-orange when ripe, up to 3 seeds per berry. Seeds globose, 3–4 mm diam.

Habitat

Not known.

[CATE]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Uses

Use

None recorded.

[CATE]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • CATE Araceae

    • Haigh, A., Clark, B., Reynolds, L., Mayo, S.J., Croat, T.B., Lay, L., Boyce, P.C., Mora, M., Bogner, J., Sellaro, M., Wong, S.Y., Kostelac, C., Grayum, M.H., Keating, R.C., Ruckert, G., Naylor, M.F. and Hay, A., CATE Araceae, 17 Dec 2011.
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0