aSPIDISTRA sPECIES

Aspidistra anomala

Name:

Aspidistra anomala Aver. & Tillich – Nordic J. Bot. 34(2): 141. (2016).

Holotype:

 

 

 

26 May 2015, L. Averyanov, L. Osnovetz, CPC  1605a (holotype: LE). First collected in northern Vietnam (Hoa Binh province, Lac Son district, Ngoc Son municipality, Khu village, around point 20°26′31′′N, 105°19′32′′E, primary broadleaved forest on steep rocky slopes of remnant  mountain composed with solid crystalline highly eroded limestone at 550–650 m a.s.l., 27 Mar 2011. N.Q. Hieu, L. Averyanov, N.T. Hiep, P.K. Loc, P.V. The, N.T. Vinh, T.B. Ngan, N. Tap, D.D. Dao, V.T. Ha, T. Maisak, L. Osnovetz CPC 1605). The type specimen was prepared from cultivated plants in May 2015.

Distribution:

Vietnam: Hoa Binh province.

Phenology:

Flowers in cultivation in May–June.

Description

from 

protologue:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terrestrial perennial herb with orthotropic stem, forming no rhizome. Shoot dirty brownish, erect, simple or sparsely branched near the base, 10–15 cm tall, (4.5)5.0–6.0(7.0) mm in diameter, densely nodal, with few thick, rigid, semiwoody, straight, down-directed prop roots. Cataphylls convolute, narrowly triangular, when young glossy green, later becoming dull pale gray–brownish to light yellowish–gray, papyraceous, with prominent nerves, up to 6 cm long, early splitting into persistent fibrous remains. Leaves on individual shoots (2)3(4), petiolate. Petiole stiff, erect, almost straight or slightly curved near apex, (7)8–16(18) cm long. Leaf blade almost horizontal to slightly ascending, narrowly ovate to elliptic, cuneate at base and shortly attenuate at apex, (10)12–16(18) cm long, (2.5)3.0–5.0(6.0) cm wide, irregularly broadly undulate along margin, dark uniformly green on both sides, with (5)7 prominent veins radiating from the leaf base. Flowers solitary, arising from leaf axil in apical part of shoot, pedunculate, nodding, widely opening, 2.2–2.6 cm across, in morning sweet fragrant, later with rather unpleasant mushroom odor. Peduncle arising vertically, arching and drooping, light green, terete, slightly swelling to the apex, (0.8)1.2–1.5(2.0) cm long, (2.5)3.0–3.5(4.0) mm in diameter, with 3–4(5) sterile bracts approximated at apex and near the base; bracts broadly triangular ovate, concave, thin, slightly keeled dorsally, scarious, white to light greenish near apex, papyraceous, acute to shortly attenuate, (5)6–10(12) mm long and wide (being flattened). Perigone tube campanulate, pure white or slightly yellowish toward the base on both surfaces, fleshy, smooth and glossy, (10)12–14(16) mm long and wide, with (7)8(9) free, irregularly unequal lobes at apex. Perigone lobes more or less smooth, glossy, pure white, triangular ovate in outline, unequal in size and shape, strongly irregularly deformed, obtuse to acute at apex, straight, twisted, recurved, or incurved, (occasionally some lobes strongly incurved and united at apex with stigma), (3)5–7(9) mm long, (2.0)3.0–6.0(7.5) mm wide at base, irregularly undulate, incised and gnawed along the margin, shallowly auriculate at the base. Stamens 6(7), almost sessile, inserted on tube wall at third of its length from the base; anthers narrowly triangular, curved, unguiculate, often deformed, (5.5)6.0–7.0(7.5) mm long, (2.0)2.5–3.0(3.5) mm wide, their connective dorsally with tall, prominent keel and large, incurved, claw-shaped extension reaching 2– 3 mm beyond tips of pollen sacs; pollen sacs introrse; pollen bright yellow. Pistil terete, sub-clavate; style white, fleshy, cylindrical, slightly thickened at the base and apex, straight to slightly curved, 9–11 mm tall, (0.8)0.9–1.0(1.1) mm in diameter at the base; stigma truncate or hardly convex, elliptic as seen from above, (1.8)2.0(2.2) by 0.4–0.5 mm, with 4–6 low, dull yellowish, indistinct bosses on almost flat terminal surface. Ovary inconspicuous, very indistinct, light greenish. Fruits globular, dark green.

Sourses:

Averyanov L.V. & Tillich H.J. (2016). – Nordic J. Bot. 34(2): 141–147.

Gallery: