ALOCASIA BRANCIFOLIA
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION:
First described in 1863 under the genus Xenophya in the Annals of the Lugduno-Batavi Botanical Museum at Utrecht University in the Netherlands
It was later reclassified into the genus Alocasia in 1898 under the name Alocasia acuta and finally combined into (combinatio nova) Alocasia brancifolia by Alistair Hay in his Aroids of Papua New Guinea
SYNONYMS: Alocasia angustiloba, Alocasia dahlii, Alocasia denudatoides, Alocasia gjellerupii, Alocasia magnifica, Alocasia peekelii, Alocasia schlechteri, Alocasia acuta, Alocasia acuta var. angustipartita, Alocasia acuta var. tigrina, Arum fasciculatum, Schizocasia acuta, Schizocasia acuta var. angustipartita, Schizocasia acuta var. tigrina, Xenophya brancaefolia
DISTRIBUTION: New Guinea and Maluku (Mollucas) Islands | Indonesia and Papua New Guinea
CLIMATE: Predominantly Hot Humid Tropical (Af climate)
Humidity is moderately high throughout the year, ranging from 70% to 90%
Temperature is relatively uniform throughout the year - within the range of 73°F/23°C to 90°F/32°C during the day. Minimum temperatures never dip below 65°F/18°C
The average rainfall per year varies depending on locality, with the western part of the Philippines experiencing a dry period up to 1-3 months
ECOLOGY: lowland forest understorey, generally in rather swampy places, occasional in open sites.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Treelet with erect brown stem to c. 1.2 m tall, to 7 cm diam.; leaves about 6 together; petiole to c. 40 cm long, green to faintly mottled to boldly obliquely zebra-striped with chocolate brown, sheathing in the lower 1 /3rd—1/2; wings of sheath persistent with the margins, somewhat in-tumed but not overlapping; blade sagittate in outline, with the anterior and posterior lobes pinnatifid at least halfway from the margin to the costae, often to within a few millimetres of the costae; anterior lobe to c. 50 cm long, 30 cm wide, with c. 9 segments on each side, the segments 1-4 cm wide and lanceolate; posterior lobes much reduced, more or less equal to segments of the anterior lobe, but divided once or twice, about a quarter of the length of the anterior lobe; posterior costae more or less equal to the midribs of the segments of the anterior lobe, much thinner than the anterior costa; costae and primary venation raised adaxially, primary venation impressed abaxially; secondary venation fine, flush with the lamina, almost striate
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences paired, each pair enclosed by a cataphyll, the second inflorescence subtended by a small prophyll; peduncle short, c.4 cm long; spathe to 15 cm long, constricted c. 2.5 cm from the base, opening only level with the male zone of the spadix, distally clasping the appendix, the top acuminate, dirty ivory longitudinally streaked with chocolate brown, the whole persistent in fruit; spadix to c. 12 cm long, slender; female zone 1-1.5 cm long, c. 1 cm diam., with about 20 pistils, ovaries green; stigma white, 3-5-conically lobed; inter-stice of sterile organs c. 2.5 cm long, c. 1 cm wide at base, sharply tapering to c. 2.5 mm wide, white; male zone c. 4 cm long, 6 mm wide; synandria more or less regularly rhomboid, whitish, with the anthers opening by apical pores; appendix c. 7 cm long, slender, c. 5 mm diam., tapering gradually to the tip; infructescence more or less erect, not deflexed; fruiting spathe longitudinally split into recurved segments; berries orange-red, few-seeded; seeds anatropous, globose, brown, c. 5 mm diameter.
VARIEGATED FORMS: N/A
ETYMOLOGY: The specific epithet is formed from the Latin branca, a paw, and folia, leaf; the compound brancifolia seems orthographically correct
NOTES: The species is variable with regard to the width of the segments of the pinnatifid blades, and the degree of mottling on the leaf sheath, petiole, and to a lesser extent the spathe. Variation in both these attributes occurs within populations, and while of horticultural interest, deserves no formal recognition above the rank of cultivar. It has occasionally been mistaken for Alocasia portei which differs in the much larger size, well developed posterior costae, and in the inflorescence in which the spathe limb opens wide and then falls away as in Alocasia macrorrhizos. Occasional individuals of Alocasia brancifolia are found in open conditions (probably as relics of clearing), and have the blades less deeply pinnatifid than usual, but dissection is nevertheless about halfway to the anterior costa, quite distinct from the shallowly pinnatifid leaves of Alocasia boa.
Other specimens seen:
MOLUCCAS. Halmahera, Galela, Loa Tobaru, Beguin 1917 (BO), 1923 (BO, L), 1927 (BO); Halmahcra, Tclago Rano, Mochtar 270 (BO); Aru, Treub 274b (BO); Bacan Isl., G. Sibela, nr Waiaua, de Vogel 3658 (L)
IRIAN JAYA. Aria, nr Uta, Aet 390 (BO); Jappen Island, Biak, Serui, Act & Idjan 601 (BO, L); Manokwari, Forcstgardcn 'Tafelberg', BW 3527 (A, L); Wandammen Peninsula, Wondiwoi Mts, BW 13657 (L, LAE); Manokwari, Gibbs 6190 (K); Skroe, Jaheri s.n. (BO); Pransocn bivak, Lam 1149 (BO); Manggoapi, 3 km W of Manokwari, Nicolson 1574 (L, LAE), 1575 (L, LAE); Sorong, Klamono, Pleyte 616 (BO, L); Kloof bivak, Lorentz River, Pulle 200 (BO, K, L); Versteeg 1686 (BO, K, L); von Romer 44, 316, 674 (BO); Steenkool District, 8 km along Steenkool-Tembuni road, vanRoyen 3481 (A, BO, L); Manokwari,Prafispui, Widjaja & Hamzah 3137 (BO).
PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Aitape District, Meni Creek, nr Kaiye Village, Darbyshire & Hoo gland 8168 (L, LAE); Bulolo, cult., ex Gogol Valley, Hay 1401 (LAE); nr Baku, Gogol Valley, Hay 4006 (NSW); Madang Prov., Wasab, Hay 4020 (NSW); Gogol Valley, Hay 4040 (NSW); Kikori River, above the Govt. Station, NGF 5088 (A, K, LAE); Josephstaal, Madang,NGF 10277 (L, LAE); Fly River, 100 mi above Daru, NGF 35280 (LAE); Lae, cult., Nicolson 1401 (BO, L, LAE, US); Lower Ramu Valley, 1/4 mi S of Josephstaal airstrip, Pullen 1188 (LAE).
CULTIVARS: Alocasia brancifolia ‘Nishihira’ has often cropped up on the market, but there is no consensus whether it’s an actual cultivar out of Japan, or the type species.
HYBRIDS: N/A
