Amorphophallus albus P.Y.Liu & J.F.Chen

Species

Angiosperms > Alismatales > Araceae > Amorphophallus

Characteristics

Tuber brown, subglobose, 5-6 cm high, 7-10 cm in diam., seasonally producing long rhizomatous offsets, these to 23 × 1.5 cm. Leaf solitary; petiole pale green with grayish green, irregular, elongate or rounded spots, and whitish dots, 40-70 × 1.5-2 cm, glabrous; leaf blade ca. 80 cm in diam., rachises winged; leaflets elliptic-lanceolate, 2-12 × 1-3 cm, acuminate. Inflorescence solitary, long pedunculate; peduncle 16-30 × 1-2 cm. Spathe cymbiform, narrowly ovate, 12-22 × 6-10 cm, acute; proximal margin of limb recurved, outside base green to pale green, inside creamy white; outside limb pale green, spotted with dark green and near margin with numerous indistinct white punctiform dots, inside creamy white with a faint pale green flush, base within densely verruculose. Spadix producing a heavy gaseous smell during female anthesis, sessile, bright pale green, turning yellowish during male anthesis, slightly curved, shorter than spathe, ca. 13.5 cm; female zone cylindric, ca. 1 × 1.2-1.3 cm, flowers congested; ovary bright green, depressed, angulate in cross section, ca. 1.5 mm high, 2.5-3 mm in diam., 2-loculed, but 1 locule reduced and sterile; style strongly oriented parallel to spadix axis, bright green, distally pale to yellowish green, 2-2.5 × ca. 1 mm; stigma lateral, slightly arching, whitish disciform, ca. 1.5 mm in diam., ca. 0.8 mm thick, entire, strongly scabrous; sterile zone between male and female zone swollen, slightly conic, 1-2.5 × 1-1.8 cm; staminodes congested; staminodes consisting of sterile entire flowers, off-white, slightly hemispheric, irregular, largest ca. 12 × 7 mm, with shallow irregular depressions, or with a few irregular grooves; male zone narrowly conic, apex slightly expanded, ca. 4 × 0.8 cm, ca. 1.5 cm in diam. at base, flowers congested; male flowers consisting of 3 or 4(or 5) stamens; stamens ca. 2 mm; filaments entirely fused, off-white, ca. 1.3 mm; anthers ca. 0.7 × 2 mm, truncate; thecae off-white, opening with apical rounded pores; connective dirty pale yellowish, flat, raised after anthesis; appendix narrowly conic, ca. 6 × 1.6 cm, finely rugulose, apex obtuse. Berries orange-red when mature, ovoid.
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A large herb that keeps growing from year to year. It has one leaf on a stalk 70 cm long. The leaf is 80 cm across. It has a large tuber under the ground. The tuber is 7-10 cm wide and 5-6 cm tall.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention -
Sexuality monoecy
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) 0.8
Mature height (meter) 0.53 - 0.53
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

It is a tropical plant. It grows in open forest. It occurs between 800-1,000 m in southern China. In Sichuan and Yunnan.
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Open forests and arid thickets at elevations from 800-1,000 metres.
Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) -

Usage

The tuber is cooked and eaten. The tuber can be chopped and dried. Caution: It probably contains oxalates.
Uses medicinal
Edible tubers
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

It is grown from small tubers. Plants can be grown from seed.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Amorphophallus albus world distribution map, present in China

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:972136-1
WFO ID wfo-0000963083
COL ID CXBK
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Amorphophallus albus