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Myrmecodia erinacea - possibly - Timika (Irian Jaya)


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This is a another blue flowered Myrmecodia with yellowish branched spines that grows in lowland forests on the south side of Papua, Indonesia.  It resembles the plant called "Goose" from Triton Bay which is not far away on the map.  The Goose was just behind the beach.  Timika where this plant is from is at about 300 foot elevation.  I have lost contact with the person in Timika who provided me with a few seeds.  These are his photos, two in habitat and the others in cultivation. 

 

The leaves and petioles are distinctly different on this Timika plant compared to the Triton Bay plant..

 

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a anthorrhiza  caerulea , no ?  the leaves seem very close

 

no flower ?

 

jeff

 

 

Hi Jeff,

I still do not really "understand" Anthorrhiza, but I agree that the similarity of the leaves of this species, the "Goose" and the species from Kokas to Anthorrhiza caerulea is quite striking.

However in A. caerulea the flowers from my understanding are not located inside of Alveoli? And they have to be solitary, while I see paired inflorescences in these species.

The main characteristic for Anthorrhiza are solitary inflorescences.

Of cause, I cannot speak for M. sp. Timika, but the similarities to M. sp. "Goose" and M. sp. Kokas are quite obvious IMHO.

All the best

Andreas

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The main characteristic for Anthorrhiza are solitary inflorescences

 

you are sure?

 

jeff

 

 

From

Huxley & Jebb; Blumea 36 (1991); page 21-22:

 

...These specimens all share the character of a single in- florescence in one axil at each node ('pseudo-axillary') though this may be obscured by dense spines. In this they resemble Myrmephytum and Myrmedoma but lack the 6-merous flowers of these genera. Hydnophytum and Myrmecodia normally have paired inflorescences. The solitary inflorescence oí Anthorrhiza differs from the rare solitary inflorescence oí Hydnophytum in being divided by sterile, often spine-bear- ing ridges into separate flower-bearing areas....

....Inflorescence a single mass of flower-bearing areas, sessile to sunken, more or less central to the leaf axil; a dense pulvinate cushion of bract hairs surrounded by a ridge of stem tissue, or a mass of triangular leathery bracts, or densely spined...

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Frank and me just 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 Timika plant seems to come quite close to Myrmecodia erinacea (right):


 


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Great sleuthing, gentlemen!

 

Are there collections cited for either/both species in H&J for the Bird's Head Peninsula? 

 

I will post an image or two of my young plant from Timika (courtesy of Frank O) on Monday. Seems very different from anything we've seen illustrated here so far but, like "Goose",  root spine development may be an ontogenic change.

 

J

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Great sleuthing, gentlemen!

 

Are there collections cited for either/both species in H&J for the Bird's Head Peninsula? 

 

I will post an image or two of my young plant from Timika (courtesy of Frank O) on Monday. Seems very different from anything we've seen illustrated here so far but, like "Goose",  root spine development may be an ontogenic change.

 

J

 

 

They seem to be fairly widespread and yes, there were collections from the Bird's Head Peninsula.

 

I would clearly also place the plant I posted in the Goose thread into this complex, even though it looks more like a sausage than a goose to me... ;)

I think I will split this out of the "Goose" thread again.

 

What absolutely puzzles me is Frank's "Goose". The petioles seem to be wingless!

I'm not 100% sure about your plant (do you have a closeup?) but the petioles seem to have wings to me.

 

The wings are the important feature of these (alata = winged)....

 

All the best

Andreas 

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Myrmecodia erinacea Beccari published in Malesia Raccolta 2, 1884.

  Tuber to 15x4.5 cm. unridged, cylindrical, with moderately dense spines, swollen areas with pores, and honeycombing usually present, entrance holes few.  Stem solitary, un-branched with few or many spines, without clypeoli but alveoli round and densely rimmed by simple spines. Flowers greenish-blue or white, heterostylous; fruit orange-yellow, seed 4.

  Habitats:  From sea level to 100 m. (328ft.) in mangrove swamps, river-plain forests and on Oak Quercus and Dillenia forests at around 50 m (164ft.)

Indonesian collections recorded on Japen (Yapen) Island and on the nearby mainland near Sorong City, Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua Province. Also at Albatros and Prauwen Bivouacs on the Mamberamo River; and at Bernhard Camp, Taritatu (Idenburg) River in flooded rain-forests of a floodplain at 50 m, (164 ft.) Papua Province.  A more recent record is from the Tangguh LNG site on the north coast of the Bomberai Peninsula, West Papua Province.

http://www.indopacific.org/pdf/Flora-Fauna%20of%20the%20Tangguh%20LNG%20Site.pdf

A Papua New Guinea collection has been recorded near Vanimo, West Sepik Province

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Lots a thoughts about these blueish flowered plants belonging to the Myrmecodia erinacea / Myrmecodia alata complex and the various shapes we see.

 

I am once more puzzled by some conclusions in Huxley & Jebb: They keep Myrmecodia erinacea and Myrmecodia alata apart based on comparably soft characteristics ("....Notes - This species differs from M. erinacea in its shorter, wider, flat leaves with fewer lateral veins. Floral characters are rather variable and may lead to different in-terpretations of the group. Although the two species coexist and are distinct at some localities, not all collections fall readily into one or other species....") when in the same publication lump so many good things into poor Myrmecodia tuberosa...

I am not a lumper and am perfectly fine with better keeping species apart as long as data are not 100% solid, so this treatment of Myrmecodia erinacea and Myrmecodia alata is perfectly fine with me but why not treat all areas of this little known genus same???

 

Just a thought...

 

Andreas

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