Spathiphyllum humboldtii Schott
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Authority
Bunting, George S. 1960. A revision of Spathiphyllum (Araceae). Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 10: 1-54.
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Family
Araceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Leaf-blade oblique, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate or elliptic, 20-44 cm long and 5.5-14.5 cm wide, 2.5-4 times as long as wide, the apex acute-acuminate, the base obtuse or acute, sometimes subrotund, the primary lateral veins many, arising at an angle of ca. 45-60°; petiole (20-) 32-68 cm long, 1-1.5 times as long as the blade, alate in the basal half or more; geniculum 1-2.5(-3) cm long. Peduncle 36-77(-96) cm long, often twice as long as the blade or longer; spathe lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate (4.6-) 8-19 (-26) cm long and 2-5.5 (-6.6) cm wide, the apex attenuate or acuminate, the base obtuse and slightly clasping or narrowed to a short handle ; spadix (1.5-)4-11 cm long, on a stipe (0.5-) 1-3.5 cm long; perianth of 4 or 5 segments, free at the apex, connate in the basal onethird; pistil elongate, ± oblong in profile, the style prominently exceeding the perianth, the apex blunt or subconic, ending in an elevated brush-like stigma; ovary 2-3-locular, the ovules affixed near the base in each locule, varying from (5-)4 to 2(-1) in each of the locules and totaling 9-4 ovules per ovary; fruiting spadix rough; fruit elongate obovoid, blunt toward the apex and abruptly rostellate; seeds fewer than the ovules, comma-shaped in profile or irregularly compressed, the surface very verruculose and foveolate.
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Discussion
Figures 2K, 4.
Spathiphyllum candolleanum Sehott, Prodr. Syst. Aroid. 429. 1860.
Spathiphyllum glaziovii Engl. Vid. Meddel. 756. 1879-1880.
Spathiphyllum huberi Engl. Bot. Jahrb. 37: 120. 1905.
Type collection: F. W Hostmann 1154, "Surinam" (lectotype K, isotypes BM, G-DEL, U). The holotype was deposited at Vienna, and probably burned. The Geneva sheet is labeled (perhaps erroneously) "Guyane Anglaise, 1843." Hostman is not known to have collected in British Guiana (Index Herb. 2 2: 287. 1957).
There is considerable variability in this species but the lack of discernible pattern makes such variation of no taxonomic significance. Some specimens referred to S. humboldtii have bimerous flowers mixed with trimerous ones on the same spadix. Bugler apparently overlooked this feature in all specimens except Huber 1403, which he described as type of 8. huberi. The flowers of Hostmann 1154 are either bi- or trimerous in the same spadix, with four or five perianth segments and a bi- or trilocular ovary. Notable variation also occurs in the form of the base of the leaf-blade, which may be obtuse, rounded, or even acute.
Engler and Krause (Pflanzenreich 4 23B : 120. 1908) separated S. candolleanum from S. humboldtii by its smaller size, ovary shape, and number of ovules per locule. S. glaziovii was set apart in that publication by the slightly different shape of its leaf-blade and spathe, shorter petiole, and fewer ovules per locule. There are few differences other than size and mery between Buglers's descriptions of S. huberi and S. humboldtii. I cannot find justification for maintaining these as separate species, since their differences seem to fall within the expected natural variation of a widespread species, in this case exemplifid by the differences between specimens of the type collection of S. humboldtii.
Jonker and Jonker (Fl. Suriname 1: 28-30. 1953) recognized both S. humboldtii and S. huberi, separating them by the number of locules per ovary, and ovules per locule, as Bugler had done. I cannot maintain S. huheri on these grounds. Though Jonker and Jonker incorrectly considered the locality of Huber 1403 to be in Para rather than Peru, their treatment lends credence to the possible conspecificity of the material collected in Peru and Suriname, and suggests that S. humboldtii might be widespread in the Amazon basin.
The single Venezuelan collection identified as S. humboldtii varies most from the other material referred here, but it may simply represent a point in the constant variance of this widespread species. Subsequent collections from the Amazon drainage may prove it to represent an unknown species.
S. humboldtii can be separated from all other species by its non-decurrent spathe, long-stiped spadix, and elongate pistil with the style very prominently exserted beyond the perianth.
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Distribution
Distribution: Wet forests along the coast of Dutch and French Guiana, along the Amazon River in Para, Brazil, and Loreto, Peru, and in southernmost Venezuela. BRAZIL: woods south of I.A.N., Belem, Para, Jan 1943, Archer 8204 (US); Glaziou 10126 (C, P) (type collection of S. glaziovii Engl.); Tepeirinha pr. Santarem, Iguape, Dec 1938, Markgraf 3865 (RB). FRENCH GUIANA: Cayenne, Leprieur 1839 (G-DEL); sur la Montague en Mahuri dans rile de Cayenne, Poiteau s.n. (L); Jul 1821, Poiteau s.n. (K); Mar
French Guiana South America| Suriname South America| Brazil South America| Peru South America| Venezuela South America|