Name:

Aspidistra multiflora Aver. & Tillich – Nordic J. Bot. 33(3): 368. (2014).

Holotype:

 

 

Vietnam, Thanh Hoa prov., Thuong Xuan distr., Van Xuan Municipality, Quan village, Xuan Lien Natural Reserve, secondary broad-leaved evergreen forest on sandstone hills at elevation 300–500 m a.s.l. around point 19°51′27.0′′N, 105°12′46.0′′E, 7 Nov 2013, L. Averyanov, N. T. Hiep, N. S. Khang, N. D. Thang, L. D. Qui, CPC 6841 (LE).

Specimens:

MW0750152

Distribution:

Vietnam, Thanh Hoa province (Xuan Lien Natural Reserve).

Phenology:

Flowers in October–November, fruits in September–December in nature.

Description

from 

protologue:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rhizome terete, ascending or erect, sparsely branching, 5–8(10) mm in diameter, densely nodal, with thick rigid, light gray, semi-woody, straight stilt roots. Cataphylls convolute, cuneate, greenish when young, later light dull gray–brownish, papyraceous, to 10 cm long and 1 cm wide, early splitting into irregular fibres, enveloping petioles by fibrous–papyraceous remains. Leaves 1–3, petiolate. Petiole stiff, erect, straight, or slightly curved, (14)15–25(27) cm long. Leaf blade upright and arching, elliptic, attenuate at base and apex, (20)25–30(35) cm long, (4)5–8(10) cm wide, plicate, uniformly dull green above and below, with prominent midvein and 3–5 secondary veins well seen on both sides, arising from midvein in basal half of leaf blade. Flowers odorless, numerous, pedunculate, kept in horizontal or slightly ascending position, widely open. Peduncles appearing in groups just below the foliage leaves, dirty purple to olive brown, (6)8–12(14) mm long, 1 mm in diameter, horizontal to obliquely ascending, with 2–3 bracts; bracts triangular ovate, concave, papyraceous, with scarious, lacerate margins, dirty purple to olive greenish, acute to obtuse, (3)4–6(7) mm long and 2–4 mm wide. Perigone tube urceolate, 7.0–8.5(9.5) mm long and wide, glossy, white on both surfaces, inside with 6 longitudinal dark purple-brown stripes (reaching to between the stamens), with 6 lobes. Perigone lobes subequal, broadly triangular ovate, slightly convex, blunt to almost round at apex, fleshy, smooth, revolute,4–5 mm long and wide, adaxial surface smooth or shallowly longitudinally grooved, glossy dark purple–brown, abaxial surface white speckled with dirty purple. Stamens 6, inserted at middle part of tube; filaments short, laterally flattened, 0.6–0.8 mm tall, base 1.6–1.8 mm long; anthers bean-shaped, 2.0–2.2 mm long, 0.8–1.2(1.4) mm wide, with pollen sacs facing the style and narrow connective; pollen brightly yellow. Pistil mushroom-shaped, white; ovary inconspicuous, dirty purple speckled; style stout, white, cylindrical, slightly broadening to the base and apex, (3.0)4.0–5.0(5.5) mm tall, (1.0)1.2–1.4(1.6) mm in diameter; stigma almost hemispherical, fleshy, almost white, subcircular or indistinctly hexagonal, (4.0)4.5–5.0(5.5) mm in diameter, its upper surface smooth. Fruits oblique–globular, (6)7–9(11) mm in diameter, dirty gray-brown to dull black, densely irregularly thorned, 1-seeded.

Sourses:

Averyanov L.V. & Tillich H.J. (2014) Nordic J. Bot. 33(3): 366–376.

Gallery: