Name:

Aspidistra cadamensis N.S.Lý & Tillich – Phytotaxa 303(1): 84. (2017).

Holotype:

 

VIETNAM. Quảng Ngãi Province: Tây Trà District, Trà Trung Commune, Cà Đam mountains, Bà Noong stream, 15°09.344 N, 108°27.723 E, 1.008 m elev., 25 September 2016, Lý Ngọc Sâm and Trương Bá Vương, Lý-818 (holotype VNM!; isotypes P, VNM).

Specimens:

MW0753274; MW0753275.

Distribution:

Vietnam: Quảng Ngãi, Gia Lai provinces.

Phenology:

Flowers in July in nature.

Description

from 

protologue:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perennial rhizomatous herb, 50–80 cm tall. Rhizome creeping, unbranched, epigeous, with dense short internodes, 4–10 mm in diameter, dark brown, with many roots, 3–8 mm in diameter. Cataphylls ca. 5, ovate-oblong, up to 11 cm long, the inner ones longer than the outer ones near the base, purple to dark red-purple, whitish towards base, later straw-brown. Leaves solitary, 0.5–1 cm apart, distinctly divided into petiole and lamina; petiole stiff, 19.7–46 cm long, green, ventrally with shallow v-shaped furrow at base, basally 4–6 mm swollen, purple-red to black purple; lamina sometimes with yellowish spots, broadly ovate to elliptic-ovate, slightly asymmetric at base, 22–33 cm long and 7.5–9 cm at widest point, tapering into acuminate apex with a minute spine ca. 0.2 mm long, base cuneate or obtuse, adaxially dark-green, semi-glossy, abaxially light green, semi-glossy, mid vein strongly prominent on abaxial surface, each half of lamina with 4–6 prominent secondary veins, between them 4–8 fine-tertiary nerves with numerous anastomoses, margin almost entire, minutely serrate at apex. Flowers (1‒)2–6, arising from apex of rhizome, obliquely upright to horizontal, 10–11.5 mm long, ca. 15 mm in diameter. Peduncle slender, thin, obliquely upright to horizontal, 1–10 cm long, 1–1.5 mm in diam., purple or black-purple, with 5–7 scale bracts, broadly triangular, 3-veined, abaxially redpurple with whitish spots, adaxially paler, glabrous, margin membranous, translucent white, papery, apex cucullate; 3–4 bracts at base, 2–3 mm long, 3–4 mm wide at base, a single scale at the middle to the upper third, distally with 2–3 subtending bracts, 5.5–7.5 mm long, 5–8 mm wide at base. Perigone tube campanulate, fleshy, 6–7 mm long, 7–8 mm in diam., externally mainly whitish or cream-white with purple or red-purple dots towards the upper third, smooth, semi-glossy at the basal half, internally cream-white at basal half, purple-red toward apex; lobes 6, nearly equal, recurved, fleshy, triangular-ovate, 3.5–4.7 mm long, 3.2–5 mm broad at base, apex obtuse, externally purple-red with whitish spots, glabrous, somewhat verrucose, internally purple-red, margin and apex sometimes whitish, with 2-keels running to the upper third of perigone tube, finely verrucose; tube wall and lobes ca. 0.2 mm thick. Stamens 6, inserted at the basal third of perigone tube, positioned lower than stigma, arranged at the same radii with lobes; anthers sessile, ovate, 1.4–1.6 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide near the base, yellow, latrorse, thecae separated by whitish connective tissue, without a connective appendage; pollen orange-yellow. Pistil widely obconical, 7–8 mm tall, filling nearly completely the space of tube, ovary indistinct; style stout, shortly cylindrical, ca. 2 mm tall, ca. 1.2 mm in diameter, white; stigma fleshy, 6–7 mm in diameter, composed of three lobes firmly adpressed to each other, with 9–12 teeth at margin corresponding to abaxial ridges, apical surface somewhat concave, white, with irregular radial ridges formed during the flowers aging process, margins and lower part purplish-red, abaxially with 12 longitudinal ridges forming deep furrows in between. Fruiting peduncles stiff, 2.5–10 cm long, 1.5–2 mm in diameter, whitish-purple, tinged green-purple or black-purple. Mature fruits globose-obovoid, 7–9 mm long, to 12 mm in diam., tinged green-purple when young, purple-black when ripe, surface rugose, tuberculate, densely prickly with spines up to 4.5 mm long; seeds wedge-shaped, 6–6.5 mm long, 4–5 mm wide at widest point, whitish.

Sourses:

Ly & Tillich (2017) – Phytotaxa 303 (1): 084–088.

Gallery: