ALOCASIA KERINCIENSIS
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION:
Ab Alocasia perakensis Hemsl. caudice producto tenuiore, foliis et cataphylhs alternantibus, lamina minus incrassata, venis intramarginalibus valde conspicuis, inflorescentia parviore, inflorescentia mascula exserta differt.
TYPUS: Indonesia, Sumatera, Gunung Kerinci, 16 Apr 1920, Bunnenmeijer 9511 (L, holo; BO iso).
Described by A. Hay in Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore 50: 322 (1998)
SYNONYMS: N/A
DISTRIBUTION: Sumatra known only from an area between G. Kerinci to Lake Kerinci straddling the border of West Sumatera and Jambi Provinces.
CLIMATE: Tropical humid climate
Humidity is moderate throughout the year, ranging from 60% to 70%
Temperature is varies between the seasons - within the range of 48°F/9°C to 88°F/31°C during the day. Minimum temperatures never dip below 45°F/7°C
Rainy and humid season (October to May) and a dry season between June and October. The average annual rainfall is 1,200 mm
ECOLOGY: On montane forest floor at 1500-2000 m altitude.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Small terrestrial herb; rhizome elongate, slender, stiff, decumbent-creeping, epigeal, ca. 1 cm diam., to ca. 40 cm long, with internodes to 5 cm long; leaves several, alternating with cataphylls, with leaf-cataphyll internodes subequalling cataphyll-leaf internodes; cataphylls membranous, narrowly oblong-lanceolate, to 8 cm long, drying red-brown; petiole to ca. 25 cm long, sheathing in the lower 1/5th or less, wing of sheath basally broad, membranous, like the cataphylls in colour and texture; blades stiffly membranous, dull mid-green, broadly to narrowly ovate, peltate with the posterior lobes almost completely joined, ca. 13 x 6 -16 x 9 cm, widest ca. 1 cm distal to petiole insertion, the tip broadly acute to obtuse and shortly acuminate, base rounded with a retuse notch; anterior costa with 2-3 primary lateral veins on each side diverging at up to 100° (proximal) to 45° (distal) and running into a conspicuous intramarginal vein ca. 3-5 mm from the margin; secondary venation forming ill-defined interprimary collective veins; venation more or less flush with the lamina abaxially and adaxially
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescence solitary, rarely paired; peduncle subequalling the petioles; spathe 5-6.5 cm long; lower spathe ovoid, ca. 1.5 cm long, separated from limb by a pronounced constriction; limb broadly lanceolate; spadix shorter than the spathe, 3-4.5 cm long, shortly stipitate; female zone ca. 7 mm long; ovaries globose, ca. 1 mm diam., expanding to ca. 3 mm diam while inflorescence still fully intact; style very short apically expanded into a 3-lobed stigma; sterile interstice ca. 7 mm long, narrowed above corresponding to spathe constriction; synandrodia more or less rhomboid, 1.2-3 mm long; male zone ca. 1 cm long, subcylindric, ca. 4 mm diam.; synandria 4-5-merous, rhombo-hexagonal; synconnective somewhat inflated; thecae opening by apical pores; appendix about isodiametric with male zone at base, subcylindric, tapering in upper third, ca. 1.2-2 cm long, white; fruiting spathe ovoid, ca. 2 cm long; berries globose, ca. 4 mm diam.
VARIEGATED FORMS: N/A
ETYMOLOGY: The plant is named after the Kerinci area (regency/kabupaten) in the Jambi province of the island of Sumatra, in Indonesia
NOTES: Other specimens seen: SUMATERA: W. Sumatera, G. Kerinci, Bunnenmeijer 9106, 9308, 9416, 10128 (all BO); 9795, 10321 (both BO, L); Cult. RBG Sydney Acc. no. 970481 ex Jambi Prov., Kerinci Seblat National Park, above Lempur Village, Hay et al. 13046 (t, no voucher);
CULTIVARS: N/A
HYBRIDS: N/A
