Bunting, George S. 1960. A revision of Spathiphyllum (Araceae). Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 10: 1-54.
Araceae
Species Description - Leaf-blade oblique, typically ovate to ovate-elliptic, (25-) 35-44 cm long and (10-) 17-20 cm wide, the apex terminated by a cusp 1.5-3.5 cm long, the base obtuse to subrotund, the many primary lateral veins arising at an angle of 60-70° and very prominent beneath; petiole to 74 cm long, alate in the basal two-thirds; geniculum (1-) 1.5-3 cm long. Peduncle to 40 cm or more long; spathe ±: oblong and clasping at the base; spadix 6.8-11.5 cm long, smooth, on a short stipe 0.3-0.8 cm long; perianth of separate segments; pistil obpyramidal, apically truncate, the nipple-like stigma scarcely exceeding the perianth; ovary 3-locular, the ovules affixed near the base of the locules, 2 or 1 in eaeh of the 3 locules, totaling 6-5 ovules per ovary; fruit unknown.
Figure 7.
Type collection: H . von Wedel 2198, "shrub 3 ft., inflorescence gray, Fish Creek, vicinity of Chiriqui Lagoon," Prov. Bocas del Toro, Panama, 9 Apr 1941 (neotype GH, duplicates F, MO). The designation of a neotype is appropriate since neither the holotype (Wcndland 939, "Pedregal, C. Rica, 1857") nor any duplicate of it has been located. A photograph of the holotype (Field Mus. no. 29838) clearly indicates that the type was deposited at Vienna, and therefore we must assume that it was burned along with the other Araceae.
A good photograph of the holotype in conjunction with the original description of S. fulvovirens serves to define this species very well. It is further clarified by an original Schott drawing (W).
The exact collection locality of Wcndland 939 is uncertain. Standley (Field Mus. Publ. Bot. 18: 48. 1937) noted that Wendland entered Costa Rica "by the Sarapiqui Valley, and explored especially the mountain chain from Barba to Turrialba," which would limit his localities to the provinces of Heredia and Cartago, on the Atlantic slope of the Cordillera.
The Colombian collections referred to this species have a somewhat narrower leaf-blade than is typical, but they are essentially similar in other features. S. fulvovirens finds its nearest relative in 8. juninense, a Peruvian species with a wider spathe. These two might well be considered as infraspecific categories of a single species, but are maintained here as separate species because of the great distance between their areas of collection and the natural barrier to continuity of distribution created by the Cordillera Oriental of the Andes in Colombia.
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