Aphelandra phrynioides Lindau

Aphelandra phrynioides Lindau

Aphelandra phrynioides Lindau, Bull. Herb. Boiss. ser. 2, 4: 326. 1904.

Plant small herb; stems almost absent or extremely short; leaves numerous from base; leaf blades oblanceolate, about 25 cm long, 5–8 cm wide, acuminate, gradually narrowed at base and decurrent on the petiole for about 15–18 cm, 3–4 mm wide near base, the upper surface glabrate, the lower surface pubescent, the margins entire, ciliolate; petioles (unwinged portion) 4–6 cm long, pubescent; flowers borne in 1 or 2 axillary spikes arising at the base of the plant, these surpassed by the leaf blades by 15–18 cm, the peduncle 3–6 cm long, densely pubescent; bracts imbricate, broadly lanceolate, 22–23 mm long, 8 mm wide, acuminate, mucronulate, cuneate at base, densely sericeous, the margin with about 6 pair of serrulate teeth; bractlets linear, 6–7 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, glandular-pilose; calyx 11 mm long, the segments lanceolate, finely striate-nerved, glandular pilose, the posterior segment 2 mm wide, the anterior pair 1.5 mm wide, the lateral pair 1 mm wide, all narrowed and aristate; corolla yellow, about 4 cm long, glandular-pilose, the tube cylindric, 20 mm long, 2 mm diameter, thence abruptly enlarged and campanulate, 11 mm long, 8 mm in diameter at mouth, the upper lip obovate, 8 mm long and 7 mm wide, bilobed, the lobes 2 mm long and 2 mm wide, obtuse, the lower lip 3-lobed, subequal, the middle lobe obovate, 10 mm long, 7 mm wide, rounded, the lateral lobes oblong, 9 mm long, 4 mm wide, obtuse; anthers 4 mm long, apiculate, apically and dorsally puberulent; filaments epipetalous, puberulent; pollen grains 70μ–85μ. long, 38μ–46μ diameter, typical; ovary 2.5 cm high, disc small; style, 34 mm long, puberulous; mature capsule not seen.

TYPE.—Luschnath s.n. (holotype B, destroyed, F photo 8712, isotype BR), Brazil, Bahia, Ilhéos, wet woods and along stream banks, 23 Sep 1836.

DISTRIBUTION.—Known only from the typelocality.

According to Lindau; “This species deviates from all other known species of Aphelandra because of its unique habitat. The short, compact stem probably possesses rhizomes from which the thick, unbranched secondary roots are formed. The long decurrent and numerous leaf blades by far exceed the stem and the flowering spike. The flowers do not possess the long, pointed corolla lobes that are so common in most of the other species and perhaps this characteristic could be used to initiate a new section with this its only species. The flood plain locality should have been suffikient motivation to cultivate this species.”

This species, I believe, had indeed been introduced into cultivation. Anderson (1864:289) describes and illustrates a plant called Aphelandra ornata T. Anderson that had been introduced into the Belgian gardens in 1858, from Bahia, Brazil, by Porte. This plant, misidentified by Anderson, is Lindau’s Aphelandra phrynioides.

Aphelandra phrynioides là một loài thực vật có hoa trong họ Ô rô. Loài này được Lindau mô tả khoa học đầu tiên năm 1904.