Arisaema madhuanum Nampy & Manudev, Edinburgh J. Bot.

Arisaema madhuanum Nampy & Manudev, Edinburgh J. Bot. View in CoL 71 (2): 269–273. 2014. Type: INDIA , Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore District ,

Valparai, Oosimala Top, 1344 m, 10°18.546 N 76°59.987 E, 10.07.2012, Manudev & Santhosh Nampy 5092 (holo CALI!; iso MH!). Fig. 19 View Figure 19 GoogleMaps

Deciduous, dioecious, perennial herbs, c. 115 cm tall. Subterranean stem a tuberous corm, depressed globose or subglobose, 3–4.5 cm diam., 2–3 cm tall, brownish, wrinkled, cream inside; offsets c. 8, surrounding the pseudostem, purplish or dark brown-black, globose, sometimes one or two below the roots slightly elongated. Roots many, on top of the corm surrounding the pseudostem, rose-tinged. Cataphylls 3, rarely 4 (fourth one usually disintegrated); outer 1.8–3 cm long, pale brown, apex acute-obtuse, mucronulate, slightly keeled; middle 12–16 cm long, brown-purple with greenish-white or cream mottling/lesions, apex obtuse or orbicular, mucronate; inner 30– 39 cm long, brown-purple with greenish white or cream mottling, obtuse or orbicular at apex, mucronate. Leaf single, radiatisect, probably emergin with or after the inflorescence; petiole 38–50 cm long, 0.5–2 cm thick, pale green with brown mottling formed of vertical streaks; leaflets 7–10, sessile, obovate-spathulate, 13–40 cm long, 2.2–11 cm wide, subequal, gradually cuneate at base, acuminate at apex, margins entire, undulate, bright green above, pale beneath, lateral veins up to 25 pairs, intra-marginal vein c. 0.5 cm apart from the margins. Pseudostem 35.5–50 cm long, pale green with brown mottling, ligule not prominent. Inflorescence held below the leaf; peduncle 33.5–66 cm long, 0.5–0.7 cm thick, mottled as in petiole, pale purple towards the distal end, exserted by 5–17 cm from the pseudostem. Spathe 18–20 cm long including the limb portion; tube of spathe cylindric, funnel-shaped towards the mouth, 8–9 cm long, 1–2.5 cm wide, pale to purple basally, greenish distally, dark purplish within, with white longitudinal stripes along the veins; mouth open, wide, margins dilated into a prominent auricular extension about 1 cm wide, margins of auricle slightly revolute, c. 4.5 cm wide in the mouth region and suddenly narrowing into the limb; limb oblong-lanceolate, 10–11 cm long, 2–2.5 cm wide, yellowish-green with 5 white to hyaline longitudinal stripes along the veins, two paler stripes flanking three larger stripes in the middle, margins curved back at the base of the limb forming a neck-like constriction immediately after the mouth, apex acuminate with a slightly swollen tip, erect and arching forward at the distal end. Female spadix not seen. Male spadix sessile, just reaching the mouth, 8–9 cm long, slender, terete; fertile region 2.5–3.3 cm long at the base; male flowers sessile or shortly stipitate towards the distal end of the fertile zone, 2–9-androus; stipe to c. 1 mm long; anthers reniform, purple, dehisce through an apical pore; neuters 8–9, subulate, 2–6 mm long, scattered along the basal 1–1.5 cm of the appendix, curved down, often paired from the base, purplish-green; appendix sessile, base slightly thickened, c. 0.3–0.5 cm wide, gradually tapering to a filiform often curved distal portion, purplish basally and greenish distally to a filiform apex. Fruiting spike cylindrical, 4–6 cm long, 2.5–3.5 cm wide, borne on an upright peduncle; berries ovoid to globose, compactly arranged, green when young, 2-seeded.

Flowering & fruiting: Probably from the onset of monsoon; flowers and young fruits observed in July.

Habitat: Grows along the margins of evergreen forests near tea plantations at Oosimala Top, above 1300 m. A population of 31 plants was observed at the type locality, including two fruiting female plants. One of the infructescences had remnants of the spathe tube as well as a dried filiform appendix at the apex. The female plants were robust and larger than the male plants .

Distribution: India (southern Western Ghats), endemic.

Specimen examined: Kerala, Idukki district, Eravikulam National Park , 18.07.1997, V . Abdul Jaleel & Bobby Thomas 107 ( CALI!) .

Notes: Arisaema madhuanum is morphologically close to A. attenuatum and A. tylophorum , both endemic to the southern Western Ghats, in having a slender to almost filiform appendix. However, the new species can be easily distinguished from both of them by having a wide-mouthed spathe tube, and by the erect to arching limb with a narrow base.

Arisaema nilamburense Sivad. View in CoL in Sivad. & Nicolson, Aroideana 6: 37. 1983; Manilal, Fl. Silent Valley 332. 1988; Sivarajan & Mathew, Fl. Nilambur 753. 1997; Sivad., in Manoharan et al., Silent Valley- Whispers of Reason 237. 1999; Gusman & L.Gusman, Gen. Arisaema View in CoL , ed. 2. 395. 2006. A. auriculatum E.Barnes, Kew Bull. 1946: 44 View in CoL . 1946; Chatterjee, Bull. Bot. Soc. Bengal 8: 121. 1959, non Buchet (1911), non Smith 1914, non Kishida 1931. Lectotype (designated by Sivadasan & Nicolson, 1983): INDIA View in CoL , Kerala, Nilambur Ghat, Nilgiri, Wayanad, 2500 ft, July 1940, Barnes 2285 (K000499459 digital image!). Fig. 20 View Figure 20

Deciduous, dioecious, succulent, perennial herbs, 50–90 cm tall. Subterranean stem a tuberous corm, globose-subglobose 3.5–5 cm diam., 2–3 cm wide, white-cream, wrinkled, stoloniferous. Roots arising from the upper side of the corm, white to flesh coloured. Cataphylls 3 or 4, rarely 5: outer 4.5–5 cm long, acute-obtuse at apex, slightly mucronate, rose coloured; middle 9.5–13 cm long, rose to flesh coloured; inner 20–27 cm long, rose-brown, with white or awful white dots, almost reaching to the length of pseudostem; often a forth outer cataphyll may also present, c. 2 cm, rose to pale coloured and sometimes with a fifth degenerated one. Leaf solitary, radiatisect, emerging after the inflorescence; petiole slender, c. 90 cm long, green with rose to brownish patches, often glaucous; leaflets sessile, 5–7 or rarely 3 in vegetative plants, obovate-oblanceolate, sometimes elliptic, 13.5–25 cm long, 4–10 cm wide, cuneate at base, acute-acuminate or caudate, margins minutely praemorse, with a white or hyaline dorsal border, dark green ventrally, glaucous beneath, lateral veins 15–20 pairs. Inflorescence not exceeding the height of the leaf, usually held below; peduncle slender, 30–45 cm long, exserted by c. 8 cm from the sheathing pseudostem, light green-greenish white, often glaucous. Spathe 14–16 cm long; tube of spathe cylindric at base, slightly funnel-shaped towards the mouth region, 6.5–8 cm long, 1.2–1.5 cm wide, white with purplish-brown bands along the length of the tube, bands are lighter outside, darker inside; margins of the mouth dilated in to a notably revolute, rounded auricle; limb, slightly cucullate at the base, obovate or widely obovate, 7–8.5 cm long, 3–5 cm wide, narrowly acuminate or caudate at apex, brownish green with basal white bands; nerves brown to purplish, anastomosing, with an intra marginal vein; margin slightly undulate with a purple band; distal half of the limb arched over and drooping. Female spadix sessile, c. 9 cm long, c. 1 cm thick; female fertile region c. 3 cm long, followed by neuters; pistils many, compactly arranged along c. 2.5 cm long, subglobose, green; ovules 2 or 3, stigma papillate, stellate, nearly sessile; neuters echinate, few, 2–3 mm long, scattered over a distance of c. 1 cm, upcurved, white or purplish buff often with purplish spots; appendix stipitate with a swollen base after neuters, tapering to distal end and just reaching the mouth of the tube, arching forward at the apex, green with purplish discontinuous bands or dots, smooth or glabrous except the rugose, distal curved portion with purple spots. Male spadix stipitate, similar to female but slender, 7–7.5 cm long, 0.4–0.7 cm thick, naked or sometimes with few short echinate neuters; flowers scattered over or crowded at the base and distant above, sessile or decidedly stipitate, 2 or 3-androus; anthers purple-bluish, dehisce by an apical pore. Fruiting spike cylindric or conical, c. 9 cm long, c. 4 cm wide, borne on an upright peduncle; berries ovoid compactly arranged, green when young, orange to bright red upon maturity, 2 or 3-seeded.

Flowering & fruiting: May–June.

Habitat: In grasslands, shola forests and evergreen forests, between 500–1200 m, usually found in clumps, as well as in soil pockets of wet rocks near the streams.

Distribution: India (southern Western Ghats), endemic.

Specimens examined: INDIA , Kerala, Kozhikode district, Muthappanpuzha, way to Olichuchattom , 08.05.2011, Manudev & Santhosh Nampy 4414 ( CALI!) . Malappuram district, Karimpuzha , 06.08.1983, Philip Mathew 34206 ( CALI!) . Palakkad district, Silent Valley, Dam site, 26.05.1982, Sathish Kumar 10587 ( CALI!) . Kottayam district, Vagamon, Kurisumala , 17.08.2013, in fruiting, Manudev & Robi Jose 135330 ( CALI!) . Wayanad district, Kurichiarmala , 28.10.2013, in fruiting, Arunkumar & Santhosh Nampy 142284 ( CALI!) ; ibid., 27.11.2014, in fruiting, Santhosh Nampy & Manudev 139982 ( CALI!) ; Vythiri, Thalamala , 29.05.2011, Manudev & Santhosh Nampy 4441( CALI!) .

Notes: This species was first described by Barnes in 1946 under the name A. auriculatum owing to the auriculate nature of spathe, a character found in many species of Arisaema , which was served as the basis for naming as many as three taxa previously (2 from China and 1 from Japan). Since the epithet ‘ auriculatum’ was preoccupied, Sivadasan and Nicolson (1983) renamed this species as A. nilamburense Sivad. , after the type locality, Nilambur. A lectotype was also selected from the collections of Barnes from Nilambur Ghats (Barnes 2285).