Taccarum warmingii [Engl. ]

Taccarum warmingii

General description:

Geophytic herbs, robust, up to 1.5 m tall. STEM tuberous, 5-9 x 6-10cm, producing numerous globose offsets. LEAF solitary; petioles robust, 67-77 X 2.5-7 cm, green, waxy, smooth; blade bipinnatifid, ovate in outline, 54--86 x 51-77 cm, medium green, waxy adaxially, matte green abaxially, anterior division 24-48 x 37-77 cm, primary lateral lobes 2-3 per side, 14-34 x 7-17 cm, entire to pinnatifid, lobules 3.5-10 x 4-6 cm, posterior division 16-42 x 40-77 cm, acroscopic lobes 2-3, basioscopic 2-3, basal nerve rarely denuded or denuded portion no more than 6 mm long. INFLORESCENCE: solitary, peduncle 5-8 x 1-1.5 cm; spathe broadly elliptic, greenish to purplish outside, purple inside, only convolute at base at anthesis, 23-30 x 5-13 cm, apex acuminate; spadix shorter than spathe, 17-20 cm long, female portion 5.5-10 x 2.5-3 cm, adnate to the spadix for 20-40% of its length; male portion 13 x 2.5 cm, pinkish. Flowers: male flowers in synandria 5-6-andric, 10-45 X 3-4 mm, filaments completely connate, 5-7 X 1-3 mm, yellow thecae, oblong, 1.5 X 1 mm, pollen grains ellipsoid to ovoid, exine psilate, connective as long or even longer than the rest of the synandrium, 4-6 X 3-5 mm, cylindrical to obovoid, purple; female flowers surrounded by 5-7 staminodes capitate, 2-2.5 x 0.3 mm, purplish with the apex salmon colored, pistil 9-10 x 3-4 mm, stigma 4-6 lobed, 3-5 mm diam., style as long as the ovary, 6-7 x 1 mm, globose ovary, 1-3 x 2.5-3 mm, 4-6 locules uniovulated, anatropous ovules with a short funicle. INFRUCTESCENCE unknown, but cited as yellow by N. E. Brown (1881).

General Description Reference:

Eduardo G. Goncalves, 2003. Elucidating the Elusive Taccarum warmingii (Araceae-Tribe Spathicarpeae), and a Revised Key for the Genus Taccarum

Distribution Reference:

Eduardo G. Goncalves, 2003. Elucidating the Elusive Taccarum warmingii (Araceae-Tribe Spathicarpeae), and a Revised Key for the Genus Taccarum

Distribution:

Taccarum warmingii occurs in the Brazilian states of Espirito Santo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, between 500-600 m. Although it is widely distributed, it seems to be rare locally, growing on forests in well-drained soils.

Taxonomy

Taxonomic Notes:

It is the most robust species in the genus and the petiole can reach up to 7 cm in diameter at base, being considered the "Brazilian Amorphophallus". Besides its robust habit, it differs from all other species of Taccarum by the almost complete absence of a denuded basal nerve on its leaves. Moreover, it also differs in the flat and conspicuously lobed stigma, and in the well-developed connectives, usually purplish or dark pink. The presence of truly capitate stigmas is also distinctive, being considered an unique feature in the genus. Since its description, T. warmingii has been erroneously interpreted many times. Most citations mentioning T. warmingii in the literature were, in fact, an allusion to T. crassispathum, a widely distributed species from Central Brazil, recently described (Goncalves, 2003). The same occurred for herbarium material. Only after analysis of the type material (from the Copenhagen herbarium) was it possible to elucidate this taxon. One aspect that contributed to the difficult recognition of its species was its rarity (or even the complete extinction) in the type locality. Two trips were made around the village of Lagoa Santa to look for this species, with no success. It is possible that the forests along the tributaries of the river Doce, now completely destroyed, were the original habitat of this plant in Minas Gerais.

Taxonomic Notes Reference:

Eduardo G. Goncalves, 2003. Elucidating the Elusive Taccarum warmingii (Araceae-Tribe Spathicarpeae), and a Revised Key for the Genus Taccarum

CATE Araceae

Araceae

Taccarum warmingii Engl.

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