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Myrmecodia alata - possibly - near Manokwari, Irian Jaya - crushed to pieces


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Here are a few photographs I received from Marius Micheler, a friend of mine.

It shows a plant he found that obviously either fell down or was dropped down.

 

The photograph was taken near Manokwari in Irian Jaya.

I believe it shows Myrmecodia pulvinata.

See discussion below - it certainly is not Myrmecodia pulvinata but very likely Myrmecodia alata! *

It's very sad that none of the seeds or seedlings made it into cultivation.

 

post-1-0-30797900-1399478228_thumb.jpg

 

post-1-0-47802300-1399478222_thumb.jpg

 

post-1-0-36152800-1399478238_thumb.jpg

 

post-1-0-20200400-1399478234_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

 

*edited by Andreas Wistuba - 9th and 10th of May 2014

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Andreas:

 

This appears to be identical to Andrew's Myrmecodia sp. "Goose" with fine-stellate, not club-shaped, spines from Triton Bay in WP.

 

I grow this and IMO it does not match the description of 'pulvinata' in life. I have not been able to key it to anything in H&J 1993 Sadly, even though it is immense (>90 cm long and multibranched) and flowers continually, mine appears to be self-sterile even when I have dissected flowers and hand-pollinated on multiple occasions. It may prove feasible later this year to root a branch and send it off to Frank O to see if he can cross pollinate it with his. Very showy and vigorous.

 

J

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Andreas:

 

This appears to be identical to Andrew's Myrmecodia sp. "Goose" with fine-stellate, not club-shaped, spines from Triton Bay in WP.

 

I grow this and IMO it does not match the description of 'pulvinata' in life. I have not been able to key it to anything in H&J 1993 Sadly, even though it is immense (>90 cm long and multibranched) and flowers continually, mine appears to be self-sterile even when I have dissected flowers and hand-pollinated on multiple occasions. It may prove feasible later this year to root a branch and send it off to Frank O to see if he can cross pollinate it with his. Very showy and vigorous.

 

J

 

Hi Jay,

you mean the one with the blueish flowers? In my hands this looks completely different and has very narrow leaves.

Can you post a photograph of your plant, maybe in a new thread?

All the best

Andreas

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Gentlemen,

 

My take is that these are probably 3 different species.

 

The one from Manokwari may be different because it has some "bump" to the clypeoli that the other two do not have. (flower color?)  I can't vote for pulvinata on this one - too many spines and your buddy is picking orange fruits, pulvinata has pink fruits.

 

The one from Triton Bay is probably dioecious, grows fast and large and has bluish flecked to blueish flowers.

 

The one you have Andreas with blueish flowers is from where?  I have one with blueish flowers from Timika, Irian Jaya that has different leaves from the Triton Bay plant but much like it in other ways, including spines.

 

I will have photos for you of these last two plants soon.

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Hello all,

I try to split this thread into threads that deal with one species each. 

Please post additions into the relevant threads.

 

The threads are these:

Myrmecodia spec. "Goose"

Myrmecodia spec. Timika

Myrmecodia pulvinata - possibly - crushed to pieces (this thread)

 

Jay and Frank, I hope I did the split correctly. If there are any issues, please contact me.

 

All the best

Andreas

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on this one

 

no possibility to see the leaves ?

 

I d' not see the the semicircular arcs surrounding swollen area  , present on pulvinata

 

on pulvinata  no clypeoli.

 

pulvinata is heterostyle  , but may be you have a flower picture ?

 

anthers just above and touching the hairs

 

on the longistyle flower stigma at the tube apex

on the brevistyle flower  stigma at the same level as the anthers.

 

jeff

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on this one

 

no possibility to see the leaves ?

 

I d' not see the the semicircular arcs surrounding swollen area  , present on pulvinata

 

on pulvinata  no clypeoli.

 

pulvinata is heterostyle  , but may be you have a flower picture ?

 

anthers just above and touching the hairs

 

on the longistyle flower stigma at the tube apex

on the brevistyle flower  stigma at the same level as the anthers.

 

jeff

 

 

Dear Jeff,

after having received the pictures of Mymecodia spec. "Goose" and M. spec. Timika and have also studied M. spec. Kokas again, I fully agree, that this is not Myrmecodia pulvinata.  

It certainly is something of the group including M. spec. "Goose", M. spec. Timika and M. spec. Kokas.

I will change the title of this thread.

All the best

Andreas

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Frank and me had a very fruitful discussion on the forum chat.


We compared data from Huxley & Jebb and Beccari...


 


As a result, it's quite obvious that these blueish flowered taxa belong to the Myrmecodia erinacea - Myrmecodia alata complex.


 


The winged petioles, the spines around the alveoli, the blueish flowers. Even the rings of pores do fit!


 


I changed the topic title accordingly.


 


Considering the drawing in Beccari the Manokwari plant seems to come quite close to Myrmecodia alata.


 


From Beccari:


 


Screenshot 2014-05-09 20.47.48.png


 


 


Screenshot 2014-05-09 20.49.36.png


Screenshot 2014-05-09 20.49.49.png


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