ALOCASIA WENTII
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION:
SYNONYMS: N/A
DISTRIBUTION: Known only from three collections in mid to upper montane rainforest, from Mt Hellwig in West Irian, and from the Hindenburg Range and Star Mountains in Papua 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: Growing as an epiphyte on medium-sized trees in evergreen forests in high wet mountain areas at c. 1560 m above sea level
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Small herb; rhizome erect, c. 3 cm diam., with internodes to c. 3 cm long; petiole slender, to 20 cm long, sheathing in the lower l/3-2/3rds, mottled and streaked bluish; sheath rotting; leaves several, to 8 together; lamina somewhat coriaceous, sagittate, dark green, much shorter than the petiole, to c. 15 cm long, c. 10 cm wide, asperous and minutely verruculate in the dry state abaxially; anterior costa with 4 or 5 primary veins on each side, slightly impressed adaxially, very prominent and sometimes reddish abaxially, diverging at an angle of c. 50 degrees, bearing glands in their axils; posterior lobes obtuse, much shorter than the anterior, to 3 cm long; posterior costae with lamina to the sinus, diverging at a very obtuse angle; secondary venation with zig-zagging interprimary collective veins
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences paired, subtended by an evanescent cataphyll; peduncle slender, the exposed part c. 6 cm long (infl.) to c. 18 cm long and exceeding the petioles (infr.); spathe pale pink, about 7 cm long, constricted at c. 1.8 cm from the base, narrowly lanceolate, the limb falling after anthesis; spadix c. 6 cm long; female zone c. 2 cm long with c. 20 pistils; ovary unilocular, ovules hemianatropous; stigma weakly 3-lobed, almost sessile; interstice or sterile organs very attenuate, exceeding the female zone; male zone c. 1-2 cm long, c. 6 mm diam.; synandria ± hexagonal, c. 2.5 mm diam., with very prominent thecae; appendix to c. 3.5 cm long, very slender; ripe fruit unknown. Known to bloom in December.
VARIEGATED FORMS: N/A
ETYMOLOGY: This species was named after Dutch botanist Frits Went
NOTES:
This species is poorly known, but highly distinctive in leaf. It is evident from the form of the sheath and the structure of the spadix that this species is closely related to the highly variable but always very much larger Alocasia nicolsonii.
Of note, the originally described Alocasia wentii is different from the plant currently sold as Alocasia wentii, which has since been identified as Alocasia ‘Uhinkii’, a hybrid from 1897
CULTIVARS: N/A
HYBRIDS: N/A
