Dracontium

Dracontium
1880 Botanical illustration of Dracontium spruceanum[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Subfamily: Lasioideae
Genus: Dracontium
Blume ex Decne.
Synonyms[2]
  • Eutereia Raf.
  • Echidnium Schott
  • Ophione Schott
  • Chersydrium Schott
  • Godwinia Seem.

Dracontium is a genus of flowering plants similar to those of Amorphophallus. It is native to South America, Central America, southern Mexico, and the West Indies.[2][3][4]

Dracontium species can be distinguished from related genera by their inflorescence, which is smaller and unisexual.[5] The plant has a large tuber similar to that of Amorphophallus, but rounder, and with no central and circular scar mark. When Dracontium plants begin to flower, the tuber swells and smoothens.[5][6]

Species

More than twenty Dracontium species have been documented:[7]

  1. Dracontium amazonense G.H.Zhu & Croat - Venezuela, Peru, northwestern Brazil
  2. Dracontium angustispathum G.H.Zhu & Croat - Colombia, Peru
  3. Dracontium asperispathum G.H.Zhu & Croat - Colombia, Peru, Ecuador
  4. Dracontium asperum K. Koch - Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Trinidad, Windward Islands, Venezuela, Peru, northwestern Brazil, the Guianas
  5. Dracontium bogneri G.H.Zhu & Croat - Brazil
  6. Dracontium croatii G.H.Zhu - Carchi and Pichincha Provinces in Ecuador
  7. Dracontium dubium Kunth - Venezuela, Guyana
  8. Dracontium gigas (Seem.) Engl. - Nicaragua, Costa Rica
  9. Dracontium grandispathum G.H.Zhu & Croat - Ecuador
  10. Dracontium grayumianum G.H.Zhu & Croat - Panama, Colombia
  11. Dracontium guianense G.H.Zhu & Croat - French Guiana
  12. Dracontium iquitense E.C.Morgan & J.A.Sperling- Loreto region of eastern Peru
  13. Dracontium longipes Engl. - Peru, Acre State of Brazil
  14. Dracontium margaretae Bogner - Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay
  15. Dracontium nivosum (Lem.) G.H.Zhu - Pará, Maranhão
  16. Dracontium peruvianum G.H.Zhu & Croat - Peru, northwestern Brazil
  17. Dracontium pittieri Engl. - Costa Rica
  18. Dracontium plowmanii G.H.Zhu & Croat - Peru
  19. Dracontium polyphyllum L. - Pará, French Guiana, Suriname, Venezuela, Peru, Puerto Rico
  20. Dracontium prancei G.H.Zhu & Croat - Amazonas and Roraima States of northwestern Brazil
  21. Dracontium purdieanum (Schott) Engl. - Colombia, Venezuela
  22. Dracontium soconuscum Matuda - Chiapas, Costa Rica, Panama
  23. Dracontium spruceanum (Schott) G.H.Zhu - Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, northwestern Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname
  24. Dracontium ulei K.Krause - Acre State in western Brazil; Pando region of northern Bolivia

References

  1. ↑ Fitch (d. 1927) - Curtis's Botanical Magazine v.106 [ser.3:v.36] (1880)
  2. 1 2 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  3. ↑ erts, R. & Frodin, D.G. (2002). World Checklist and Bibliography of Araceae (and Acoraceae): 1-560. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  4. ↑ Forzza, R. C. 2010. Lista de espécies Flora do Brasil http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/2010. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro
  5. 1 2 Bown, Demi (2000). Aroids: Plants of the Arum Family. Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-485-7.
  6. ↑ Zhu, G. h. & T. B. Croat. 2004. Revision of Dracontium (Araceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 91(4): 593–667
  7. ↑ "Dracontium". The Plant List. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden. 2010 onwards. Retrieved 21 June 2013. Check date values in: |date= (help)
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