灯台莲 Arisaema bockii

  • Scientific Name: Arisaema bockii Engl.
  • Ref: Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 29:235. 1900
  • Synonyms: Arisaema engleri Pamp.; A. sikokianum var. henryanum (Engl.) H.Li; A. sikokianum var. magnidens (N.E.Br.) P.C.Kao; A. sikokianum var. viridescens D.D.Ma; A. sprengerianum Pamp.
  • English Common Name: cobra lily, Engler’s Chinese Jack-in-the-pulpit
  • Chinese Common Name: 灯台莲 dēngtái∙lián, 鲍氏天南星 Bào-shi tiānnánxīng
  • Family: Araceae
  • Genus: Arisaema
  • Distribution: Forest margins, streamsides, on rocks, in valleys; 600-1500 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Zhejiang.
  • Photo: Baishanzu, Zhejiang
Tuber depressed globose, 2-5 cm in diam. Cataphylls cream-colored, to 22 cm, membranous, apex obtuse. Leaves 2; petiole green or pale green, 30-40 cm, basal 20-33 cm sheathing and forming pseudostem; leaf blade pedate; leaflets 5-7, green adaxially, oblong or ovate-oblong to ovate, membranous, base cuneate to rounded, margin entire and usually dentate, apex acuminate; central leaflet with petiolule 1-6 cm, blade 10-21 × 4-11 cm; outer 2 leaflets sharing a common lateral petiolule as long as terminal petiolule; outermost leaflet strongly oblique at base, 4-15 × 5-6 cm. Peduncle emerging from pseudostem, green tinged purplish, ca. 35 cm, free part ca. 13 cm. Spathe dark purple with greenish stripes, ca. 17.5 cm in total; tube narrowly funnelform, ca. 8 cm, ca. 1.5 cm in diam. at base, ca. 3.5 cm in diam. at throat, throat obliquely truncate, not auriculate or recurved; limb arching, ovate, ca. 9 × 4-5 cm, apex acuminate or acute. Spadix unisexual; female zone ca. 1.2 cm × 7 mm; ovary green; style short; stigma punctate, base truncate and stipitate, apex obtuse; male zone cylindric, ca. 3 cm × 1 mm; synandria lax, dark purple; anthers 1-3, stipitate; thecae sessile, globose, dehiscing by apical pores. Appendix shorter and wider in male, ca. 4 cm × 6-8 mm, stipe 5-7 mm; longer and narrower in female, ca. 5 cm × 3-5 mm, stipe to 20 mm. Infructescence erect, pyramidal, ca. 10 × 5 cm. Berries yellow, oblong-conic, 7-8 mm in diam. Seeds 2-4, ovoid, smooth. Fl. May, mature fr. Oct. 2n = 26*. (Flora of China)

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