A TAXONOMIC REVISION OF AMORPHOPHALLUS BLUME EX DECNE. SECT. CONOPHALLUS (SCHOTT) ENGL. (ARACEAE) IN INDIA

The genus Amorphophallus Blume ex Decne. is represented by more than 200 species (Mayo et al., 1997; Jaleel et al., 2011). Engler (1911) recognized 11 sections under the genus based on 78 species, and additional 12 species were treated as doubtful or not at all known. Many new species have been discovered and recognized since then. The sectional classification of Engler (1911) has several drawbacks as per the present taxonomic standards. A brief account on the taxonomic history of Indian species of Amorphophallus has very recently been provided by Jaleel et al. (2011) and it contained reference to earlier relevant works of Hooker (1894), Bogner et al. (1985), Sivadasan (1986, 1989), Sivadasan et al. (1994), Hetterscheid et al. (1994), Bogner (1995), Mayo et al. (1997), Sivadasan and Jaleel (1998a, b, 2000a, b, 2001, 2009) and Yadav et al. (2009). The genus is reported to be under revision and is supposed to include pollen morphology, odour biochemistry and pollination biology, and molecular data (Van der Ham et al., 2005).
In India the genus is represented by 3 sections (sensu Engler, 1911), and revision of one of the three sections, viz. Amorphophallus sect. Rhaphiophallus which is the largest in India has been published recently (Jaleel et al., 2011). The present paper deals with revision of Amorphophallus sect. Conophallus (Schott) Engl. which is the second largest in India. As the present revisionary study deals with the species confined only to India and a worldwide revision of the genus is expected to ensue, any attempt on sectional re-classification based on Indian taxa would be inappropriate, and hence the sectional name as used by Engler is retained here for convenience with amendments to the diagnostic characters of the section under study.