Araceae
Ambrosina

Ambrosina bassii L.

First published in Gen. Pl., ed. 6.: 517 (1764)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Central & W. Central Medit. It is a tuberous geophyte and grows primarily in the subtropical biome.

Descriptions

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

Diagnostic
Very small seasonally dormant plants; spadix fused laterally on both sides to spathe and entirely enclosed by it, forming a septum dividing the spathe into two chambers, with a single gynoecium on one side and the male flowers arranged in two rows on the other.
General Description
HABIT: very small herbs, seasonally dormant, stem a rhizomatous tuber. LEAVES : 2-4. PETIOLE : sheath short, subequal to blade. BLADE : ovate or ovate-elliptic, obtuse, often spotted; primary lateral veins 2-3 on each side, mostly arising at petiole insertion, arcuate, running into apex, higher order venation reticulate. INFLORESCENCE : Solitary, lying horizontally on ground. PEDUNCLE : short, hypogeal, elongating in fruit. SPATHE : ellipsoid, boat-shaped, not constricted, basally convolute, gaping above, interior surfaces bearing hair-like processes, stellate hairs occurring on inner and outer surfaces of ventral (pistillate) chamber, apex forming curved beak. SPADIX : enclosed by the spathe, shortly appendiculate, adnate to internal wall of spathe by septum-like lateral dilations thus forming two longitudinal chambers separating male flowers from female; ventral chamber (held uppermost) containing single female flower, dorsal chamber (held lowermost) containing usually 16 thecae arranged in two parallel rows of 8 each. FLOWERS : unisexual, perigone absent. MALE FLOWER : each row of 8 thecae represents 4 sessile stamens (see note), thecae oriented transversely, opening by longitudinal slit. POLLEN : extruded in irregular masses, inaperturate, ellipsoid-oblong, medium-sized (44 µm.), exine striate-reticulate, with narrow undulate striae in “football” pattern, breaking up into verrucae at ends. FEMALE FLOWER : ovary 1-locular, ovules many, orthotropous, funicles rather long, placenta discoid, basal, style long, attenuate, curved towards spadix axis, stigma discoid, flattened, held parallel to spadix axis. INFRUCTESCENCE: BERRY: depressed-globose, many-seeded, style and old stigma persistent, whitish with reddish tinge. SEED : subglobose to ellipsoid, testa costate with weak reticulation, brown, hard, with large, white, conical strophiole (aril), embryo straight, elongate, endosperm copious.
Habitat
Warm temperate scrub and woodland; geophytes, usually in macchie (maquis) scrub, forest floor, humus deposits between rocks or in open stony ground.
[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: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/13133493/44541376

Conservation
LC - least concern
[IUCN]

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

  • 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.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. 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 2026. 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

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images