Araceae

Gorgonidium Schott

First published in Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi 1: 283 (1864)
This genus is accepted
The native range of this genus is Peru to N. Argentina.

Descriptions

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

Habitat
Tropical and subtropical forest or open places, between 900-3000m; geophytes, stony ground.
Distribution
Peru to N. Argentina.
General Description
HABIT : seasonally dormant herbs, tuber depressed globose. LEAF : solitary. PETIOLE : terete, sheath short. BLADE : pinnatifid, pinnatisect or bipinnatifid, pinnae (9-)11-14, elliptic, entire or pinnatifid (with all intermediates), acute, upper lobes decurrent, lower ones sessile to shortly stalked; primary lateral veins of ultimate lobes pinnate, running into margin, higher order venation reticulate. INFLORESCENCE : 1(-2) per floral sympodium, appearing before leaf. PEDUNCLE : much shorter than petiole. SPATHE : erect or slightly fornicate, boat-shaped, very shortly convolute at base, not constricted, purple, persistent at least in lower part. SPADIX : fertile to apex, female zone contiguous with and much shorter than male zone. FLOWERS : unisexual, perigone absent. MALE FLOWER : 3-7-androus, stamens free or connate to different degrees into a synandrium, connective slender, sometimes stipe-like between thecae ( G. mirabile), otherwise inconspicuous, thecae globular, sometimes remote from one another, dehiscing by apical pore or slit, pistillode present or absent, if present composed of 3-4 stylodia with slightly lobed or discoid-capitate apices (stigmatoids). POLLEN : inaperturate, ellipsoid, medium-sized (mean 34 µm, range 27-42 µm.), exine verrucose ( G. mirabile) to retiverruculate, sometimes verrucae irregularly formed and flattened ( G. vargasii). FEMALE FLOWERS : gynoecium surrouonded by whorl of 6-8 filiform or subclavate staminodes, ovary subglobular to broadly ovoid, (2-)4-5(-7)-locular, ovules 1 per locule, orthotropous, ovoid, funicle half as long as ovule, placenta axile at base of septum, style short to long, stigma 4-5-lobed or subcapitate. BERRY : globular to depressed-globular, blackish-purple to purple, sometimes upper surface somewhat warty ( G. vargasii), stigma and style remnants persistent. SEED : ovoid, globular to ellipsoid, testa brownish, smooth to rough, embryo elongate, endosperm copious.
Diagnostic
Seasonally dormant tuberous geophytes; leaf blade with reticulate fine venation; flowers unisexual, perigone absent; female flowers surrounded by a whorl of free staminodes; ovules orthotropous. Differs from Synandrospadix in staminodes in female flowers filiform to subclavate, male flowers with stamens free or connate to different degrees into a synandrium (always entirely connate in Synandrospadix) and leaf blades pinnatifid, pinnatisect or bipinnatifid.
[CATE]

Sources

  • 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

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. 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 2025. 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