Name:

Aspidistra heterotepala T.C.Hsu & Luu, Taiwania 67(1): 21 (2022).

Holotype:

 

Vietnam. Khanh Hoa Province: Ninh Hoa Town, Ninh Phu Commnune, 100–200 m elev., 23 September 2018, T.C. Hsu 10951 (holotype: SGN!; isotype: TAIF-537142!, TNM!).

Specimens:

Vietnam. Khanh Hoa Province, Ninh Hoa Town, Ninh Phu Commnune, 100–200 m, 16 October 2020, Hsu 13106 (SGN, TAIF, TNM).

Distribution:

Vietnam: Khanh Hoa province.

Phenology:

Flowers in September–October; fruits in April.

Description

from 

protologue:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perennial rhizomatous herb ca. 40–60 cm tall. Rhizome shallowly hypogenous, horizontal, 4–8 mm in diam., with numerous rigid roots, composed by repeated units; each unit ca. 5 mm long, apically with 1 or 2 leaves sheathed by 3 cataphylls. Cataphylls pale greenish, up to 6 cm long, caducous and degraded into pale brownish fibers. Leaves distinctly differentiated into petioles and blades; petioles stiff, erect, 15–40 cm long, adaxially grooved, slightly swollen at base; blades leathery, ascending or arching, narrow-elliptic, 18–30 × 2–4.5 cm, acuminate at apex, long attenuate at base, margin entire, flat or slightly undulate, adaxially grassy green to dark green, sometimes with light yellow spots, abaxially slightly paler; midvein prominent, grooved adaxially and elevated abaxially; lateral veins numerous, obscure or sometimes slightly visible. Flower solitary, arising laterally from leafy part of the rhizome. Peduncle ascending, 1–1.5 cm long, ca. 3 mm in diam., with 5 or 6 sheathing bracts, the lower 2 or 3 embracing the peduncle and the upper 3 subtending the flower; bracts broadly ovate, membranous, apex obtuse, 7– 10 × 8–11 mm when expanded and flattened, whitish or slightly tinged with purple and/or yellowish green. Perigone erect, distinctly urceolate, 18–21 mm long, 14–17 mm in diam., fragile-fleshy, 6-lobed at apex; perigone tube ellipsoid in outline, widest around middle, 15–18 mm long, 14–16 mm in diam., outside dark purple, finely verruculose, inside blackish purple, smooth and slightly glossy below middle, minutely tuberculate and 12-ribbed above middle, 6 of the ribs connecting to the medial ribs of the lobes, and the other 6 ribs forked at the throat into lateral ridges of adjoining lobes; perigone lobes spreading, subequal in size and shape but subheteromorphic in adaxial ornamentation, deltoid-ligulate, 6–8 × ca. 4 mm, apex blunt, strongly thickened toward base, adaxially ribbed, minutely tuberculate, white mottled dark purple at base and in furrows among ribs, abaxially verruculose, dark purplish; the outer lobes bearing a prominent medial rib and two lower or sometimes obscure lateral ribs aside; th inner lobes bearing a low or sometimes obscure medial rib and two much prominent lateral ribs along margins. Stamens 6, inserted slightly above base of the perigone tube; anthers subsessile, dorsifixed, anther thecae bean-shaped, ca. 2.0 × 1.3 mm; pollen bright yellow. Pistil table-shaped, ca. 7 mm tall; style shortly cylindrical, stout, ca. 2 mm tall, 3 mm in diam.; stigma large, obconoid-peltate, orbicular-hexagonal in top view, 11–13 mm in diam., sometimes shallowly 6- lobed, lower surface dark purple, tuberculate, with 12 radiate low acute ribs, upper surface beige mottled dark purple or nearly entirely grayish purple, densely papillate, with 12 radiate deep furrows or with alternatively arranged 6 deep furrows and 6 broader sinuses. Ovary inconspicuous, superior, 3-locular. Fruit subglobose, ca. 1.8 cm long, pale green, sparsely dark-purple-dotted, verruculose.

Sourses:

Hsu T.C. et al. (2022) – Taiwania 67(1): 21.

Gallery: