ALOCASIA MONTICOLA
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION:
Ab Alocasia hollrungii spathae lamina decidua, ovulis hemianatropis, synandrio regulariter rhomboideo, stigmate minute lobato differt.
Typus: Papua New Guinea, Morobe Prov., Nauti road, nr Bulolo, c. 700 m alt., 12 January 1989, Hay & Howcroft 4024 (LAE, holo; NSW).
SYNONYMS: N/A
DISTRIBUTION: New Guinea
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: Collections are rather sporadic, but possibly throughout East New Guinea, and a single collection from Idenburg River in West Irian; in lower montane rain forest undergrowth, usually in damp sites.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Small to moderately robust herb; rhizome erect or decumbent, c. 30 cm long, c. 3.5 cm diam., the old leaf bases sparsely fibrous; leaves to 6 together; petioles green to mottled dark red, to 45 cm long, sheathing in the lower 2/3rds; wings of sheath persistent; blades generally distinctly hastate, sometimes (ovato-)sagittate, held horizontally; anterior lobe 15-30 cm long, c. 10 cm wide at base, with 3 or 4 abaxially prominent, often purple, primary veins on each side of the anterior costa, diverging at an angle ofc. 45 degrees, running into a conspicuous intramarginal vein 3-4 mm fromthe margin, with conspicuous glands in their axils abaxially; posterior lobes over half the length of the anterior, diverging approximately at right angles, usually lanceolate (in hastate forms) or broadly triangular (sagittate); posterior costae naked in the sinus for c. 5 mm; interprimary collective veins absent;
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences paired, each pair subtended by a slender cataphyll c. 16 cm long; peduncle to c. 10 cm in flower (extending somewhat in fruit); spathe c. 10 cm long, slender, constricted at c. 2.4 cm from the base, white to pale pink; spathe limb narrow, clasping the spadix, opening only level with the male zone of the spadix, falling after anthesis; spadix c. 11 cm long, slender, almost as long as the spathe; female zone c. 1 cm long, c. 7 mm wide at base, tapering slightly, with about 50 pistils; ovary globose, c. 1.5 mm diam., pale yellow-green, unilocular, stigma white, sessile, very weakly 3-lobed, interstice of sterile organs c. 2 cm long, 5 mm diam. at base, tapering to 2.5 mm, white; male zone c. 3 cm, more or less cylindrical, tapering rather abruptly at both ends, 5 mm diam.; synandria white, more or less rhomboid, slightly impressed at the top; anthers opening by apical pores; appendix slender, c. 3 mm diam., slightly constricted at base, tapering to a point or slightly clavate, white, smooth; fruit orange red, revealed by the space dehiscing longitudinally into recurved segments; seeds several, strophiolate, c. 3 mm diam.
VARIEGATED FORMS: N/A
ETYMOLOGY: The specific epithet derives from the latin monticola [mons (mountain) + colo (to inhabit)] due to where this species is found, growing in montane forests
NOTES:
Although the spathe limb is deciduous, the facies of this species indicates that it is allied with those Alocasia species with persistent spathe limbs, and it shares with them the fact that the spathe limb, at anthesis, barely opens, instead clasping the spadix. Leaf shape is quite variable, being sagittate or even ovato-sagittate in some specimens. The leaf margins are occasionally wavy. The conspicuous intramarginal vein is characteristic.
Okada & Carson (1980) described Drosophila pauciramia from this species, citing it as ‘A. angustiloba’.
Other specimens seen: IRIAN JAYA. 6 km S of Bernhard Camp, Idenburg R., Brass 12851 (A, BO, BRI). PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Morobe Prov., nr Andarova village, Blackwood 127 (K); Central Prov., Mt Tafa, Brass 5021 (BRI); Eastern Highlands Prov., Purosa, Okapa area, Brass 31770 (CANB, LAE, US); Central Prov., Boridi, Carr 14917 (K, L); Morobe Prov., Wau,Kunai Ck, Carson 3 (LAE); N slope Mt Missim, Croat 52936 (LAE); Milne Bay Prov., Gwiroro, Cruttwell 673 (K); Mt Suckling, nr Mayu R., LAE 55698 (L, LAE); Morobe Prov., Wau-Salamau road, NGF 8302 (A, BRI, LAE); head ofBulolo R., NGF 35631 (L, LAE, US); above Wau, Edie Ck, Nicolson 1463 (LAE); Milne Bay Prov., Goropu Mts (Mt Suckling) along Mayu R., Veldkamp & Stevens 5515 (L); Goropu Mts (Mt Suckling), Tapan Mayu, Veldkamp & Stevens 5970 (CANB, L, LAE); Morobc Prov., Bulolo, c. 6 km of Manki trig., Wallace 934/84 (NSW).
CULTIVARS: N/A
HYBRIDS: N/A
