More Description

(1999) Gardens' Bulletin Singapore v.51 p.12 (2)

(See Fig. 1)

Alocasia clypeolata A. Hay, sp. nov.

Ab aliis speciebus Alocasiis Philippinarum lamina folii parva ovata vel subrotunda valde peltata differt. - TYPUS: Philippines, Mindanao, Surigao Province, Mt Kabatuan, 18 Mar 1949, Mendoza & Convocar PNH 10433 (GH holo, 2 sheets).

[?1 Alocasia cv. Green Shield; see Burnett, Aroideana 7 (1984) 87, fig. 20].

Small herb to ca. 30 cm tall; stem short, ca. 5 cm long x 2 cm diam. (dry); leaves ca. 6 together; petiole ca. 17 cm long, sheathing in the lower quarter; blade weakly coriaceous, darker near the main veins, ovate to very broadly ovate, 16 x 6.5 cm to 12 x 8 cm; anterior lobe 7-11 cm long, widest ca. quarter of the way from the base, the tip acute to obtuse and then apiculate; anterior costa with 3 primary lateral veins on each side diverging at 45-60°; secondary venation forming irregular interprimary collective veins in the proximal part of the blade, these not formed in the distal portions; all venation flush with the lamina on both sides (dry); posterior lobes ca. 4 cm long, peltate for more than 80% of their length, with the posterior costae subparallel; inflorescences paired amongst the leaves, subtended by oblong lanceolate cataphylls to ca. 5 cm long; peduncle much shorter than the petioles, ca. 5 cm long; spathe white, ca. 6 cm long; lower spathe ca. 1.8 cm long, ovoid; spathe limb broadly lanceolate ca. 4.2 cm long x 1.8 cm wide at the base, at male anthesis with the lower ca. 1 cm sharply reflexed and the rest erect; spadix more or less equalling the spathe, stipitate for ca. 2 mm; female zone subcylindric, ca. 1 cm long x ca. 6 mm diam.; ovaries globose, ca. 1.2 mm diam.; style shorter than ovary, ca. 0.5 mm long; stigma rounded and weakly lobed; sterile interstice ca. 6 mm long x 3 mm diam., composed of rhomboid synandrodia ca. 1.3 mm diam.; male zone 1 cm long x 4 mm diam., subcylindric, narrowed at the base and apex, the base corresponding with the spathe constriction; synandria rhombo-hexagonal, ca. 1 mm diam., of 3-4 connate stamens; thecae opening by apical pores not overtopped by the synconnective; appendix ca. 3 cm long, tapering to a point, covered in low, elongate sinuous irregular sterile organs; infructescence with short peduncle; fruiting spathe subglobose, ca. 2.5 x 1.5 cm.

Distribution: Known botanically from only the type collection made on Mindanao.

Habitat: In rocky soil on a steep slope on forest edge, 80 m altitude.

Notes: This species bears strong resemblance to the plant known in cultivation as Alocasia 'Green Shield', illustrated in Burnett, loc. cit., and also commonly grown as 'Green Cuprea'. A. clypeolata appears to differ from this cultivar only in its somewhat smaller leaf dimensions (about half the size of the upper limit reported for the cultivated plant by Burnett). The cultivated plant is said to have the leaf blades lime green with 'dramatically contrasting black [sic] zones around the primary veins' (Burnett, 1984: 87). Further colour notes made from the cultivated plant include that the lower part of the spadix is cream to white and the appendix is yellow (Burnett, loc.cit.)

The specific epithet alludes to the leaves shaped like small shields.