ALOCASIA PANGERAN
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION:
Ah Alocasia principicula folio fusco-viridi, inflorescentia majore, interstitio valde attenuato partim nuda, inflorescentia mascula dimidium exserta differt.
TYPUS: Cult. RBG Sydney Acc. No. 960509 ex Malaysia, Sabah, Lahad Datu, Madai Caves, Hay et ah 12175 (NSW, holo; iso, K, KEP, L, SAN, SING - to be distributed).
SYNONYMS: N/A
DISTRIBUTION: Endemic to Sabah (Borneo | Indonesia), known only from Madai Caves, where it is abundant.
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: facultative lithophyte, found in soil and humus pockets on limestone outcrops and boulders in mixed lowland dipterocarp forest at ca. 400 m alt.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Lithophytic herb to ca. 60 cm tall; leaves ca. 4 together; petioles to ca. 60 cm long, often somewhat spreading, smooth, dark green, sheathing in the lower ca. 1/7; leaf blade variable, sagittate to hastate, triangular in outline, dark green adaxially, paler abaxially, ca. 20-35 cm long; anterior lobe widest at the base, the tip acute and slightly acuminate; anterior costa with 3 primary lateral veins on each side, diverging at 45-60°; axillary glands inconspicuous; secondary venation flush with the lamina on both surfaces, not forming interprimary collective veins, or these sporadic, ill defined and only in the outer part of the blade; posterior lobes more than 1/2 to subequalling the anterior, widely spreading or not, acute to narrowly rounded, the inner sides elhptic to narrowly obovate; posterior costae diverging at ca. 120°, straight (when leaf hastate) or somewhat back-curved (when leaf sagittate)
Photo by @borneo_landscape
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences to 6 together; peduncle ca. 15 cm long, subtended by lanceolate cataphylls 8-14 cm long; spathe ca. 11 cm long, constricted ca. 2.5 cm from the base; lower spathe ovoid, greenish ivory; limb ca. 8.5 cm long, lanceolate, acuminate for ca. 2 cm, ivory; spadix subsessile, stipitate for 1.5 mm, 8 cm long; female zone 1 cm long; pistils facing diagonally upward, ovaries subglobose, ca. 2 mm diam.; stigma more or less sessile, bilobed; interstice 8 mm long, naked and attenuate in the lower 5 mm with scattered small synandrodia, in the upper part with 1-2 whorls of close-packed synandrodia; male zone ivory, 1.5 cm long, 6 mm diam., 1/2 exserted from the lower spathe chamber and constricted level with the spathe constriction; synandria ca. 2 mm diam., rhombo-hexagonal; thecae not overtopped by synconnective; appendix subcyHndric, isodiametric with male zone, distally tapering; fruiting peduncle about half the length of the petiole; fruiting spathe broadly ovoid, white.
VARIEGATED FORMS: N/A
ETYMOLOGY: The specific epithet is a princely title in Malay, alluding to the relationship of this species to Alocasia princeps. For further discussion see under Alocasia puteri
NOTES: This species is distinguished from Alocasia princeps by its calcicolous lithophytic habit, smaller stature, more slender inflorescence, relatively longer lower spathe and lax interstice. It coexists with the terrestrial Alocasia wongii and the lithophytic Alocasia puteri
CULTIVARS: N/A
HYBRIDS: N/A
