Name:

Aspidistra averyanovii N.S.Lý & Tillich – Phytotaxa 282(1): 54. (2016).

Holotype:

 

Vietnam. Quảng Ngãi province: Nghĩa Hành district, Hành Tín Đông commune, Trường Lệ village, Mount Dầu, Chí Stream, 14°52′34″N, 108°49′03″E, 173 m, 7 May 2016, Lý Ngọc Sâm, Lý-741 (holotype VNM, including flowers and fruit in liquid collection; isotype P)

Distribution:

Vietnam: Quang Ngai province.

Phenology:

Flowers in May in nature.

Description

from 

protologue:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perennial rhizomatous herb, 50–80(–100) cm tall. Rhizome creeping, unbranched, epigeous, with dense short internodes, 5–8 mm diam., brownish, with many swollen roots, up to 30 cm long, 4–7 mm in diam. Cataphylls 5–7, oblong to ovate-oblong, up to 12 cm long, inner ones longer than the shorter ones near the base, young light greenish, tinged white towards base, later straw-brown. Leaves solitary, ca. 1 cm apart, crowded, distinctly divided into petiole and lamina; petiole stiff, 28.5–69.4 cm long, green, ventrally a shallow v-shaped furrow, basal 5–7 mm swollen, whitish; lamina broadly ovate to elliptic-ovate, slightly unequal, 22–38.6 × 6.2–10.5 cm, gradually tapering into an attenuate or acute tip, with a short teeth ca. 0.3 mm long, base obtuse to attenuate, adaxially deeply-green, semi-glossy, abaxially lighter green, semi-glossy, mid vein strongly prominent at lower surface, each half of lamina with 5–6(–7) stronger secondary veins, between them 4–8 fine tertiary nerves with numerous anastomoses, margin very minutely serrate. Peduncle semi-erect, stout, thick, 4–6.6 cm long, 3.5–4.5 mm in diam., pale green, whitish near the base, with 6–7 greenish scale leaves, 1–3 × 0.5–1.3 cm, basally 4–5 triangular ovate scales (white tinge at base), distally with 2–3 larger narrowly ovate scales (sparsely purple dots and stripes at dorsal surfaces) adjacent to flower, with 5–7 translucent nerves, prominent on outer surface, apex acute or mucronate with a short mucro ca. 1.5 mm. Flower solitary, horizontal or obliquely upright, with slight pleasant fragrance. Perigone tube campanulate, 19–22 mm tall and 16–18 mm wide, externally greenish-white, sometimes tinged with purple at the upper half, internally black-purple, finely verrucose at apex; lobes 6, arranged in inconspicuously two whorls of 3, reflexed, outer lobes triangular, 10–13 mm long, 10–11 mm at base, inner ones ovate to narrowly ovate, 11–14 mm long, 8–10 mm at base, apex obtuse, externally greenish-white, glabrous, internally purple, densely fine verrucose; tube wall and lobes ca. 1 mm thick, lobes with three nerves running down to the tube base. Stamens 6, inserted at lower 1/5 of tube wall (near the base of the tube), filaments more or less horizontally protruding, 0.6–1 mm long, white with purple blotches; anthers closely surrounding the style, incompletely covered by stigma, subsessile, linear, upcurved, white with purple blotches, with bright yellow thecae, 4–4.5 mm long, 1.5–2 mm wide near the base, latrorse; connective narrowly ovate, without a connective appendage but with apically extended thecae; pollen bright yellow. Pistil table-shaped, ovary indistinct; style stout, triangular-cylindrical, 8.5–9.5 mm long, ca. 2 mm in diameter, pale greenish; stigma fleshy, discoid-peltate, 11–12 mm in diameter, shallowly convex, 3–lobed, with semicircular dents between them, leaving large openings for pollination, each lobe distally with a deep notch and slightly bent downward, upper surface, cream-coloured to pale purplish, densely verruculose, lower surface, dark purple-red, slightly verrucose. Fruiting peduncles stiff, 3.8–7.2 cm long, 3–5 mm in diameter, green, sometimes tinged with purple, whitish at base. Fruits berries, almost spherical, 1.8–2.2 cm in diameter, green, sometimes with purple tinge, surface rugose, irregular tuberculate to prickly, with spines up to 7 mm long, apex usually with a short style persistent; seeds 6, wedge-shaped, 1.2–1.4 cm long, pale cream (immature fruit).

Sourses:

Ly & Tillich (2016) – Phytotaxa 282 (1): 053–060.

Gallery: