Jump to content
Forum for Epiphytic Myrmecophytes

Myrmecodia spec. from the M. alata / M. erinacea complex - Lowlands - North coast of Irian Jaya


Andreas Wistuba

Recommended Posts

There seems to be a huge degree of variability within Myrmecodia alata and Myrmecodia erinacea or quite a number of species that seem to be closely related to M. alata and M. erinacea.

All of them share the blueish flowers. Most of the species I consider related have a whitish petiole that might be quite long, as in this example to nearly absent at other locations.

All of them share a relatively simple barrel shaped caudex and present lots of spines around the alveoli. According to Huxley & Jebb, clypleoli are absent both in M. alata as well as in M. erinacea. However this specimen that quite clearly belongs to the same complex has distinct well visible clypleoli.

 

Actually, I found specimens I consider as members of this complex at most lowland locations in Irian Jaya I was searching for ant plants more intensly.

 

This species or variety is notable for the very long white petioles. The plant was found at 500 m asl, near Nabire, 40 km inland from the north coast of Irian Jaya:

 

 

post-1-0-18560100-1442640539_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really? Amazing! First I was wondering that the asparagus-like shoots were a Psilotum or anything else.

 

This Myrmecodia si really beautiful! It's pretty rare to see so many green leaves at the same time in a Myrmecodia stem. So I suspect that they are all from the shoot of the year? This will mean that plants in nature grow particularly fast...

 

Aurélien

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bonjour

 

have you a macro picture from these alveoli and clypeoli ?

 

from the petiole  H&J  note  0.6 to 3.2 cm  these petiole are more long ?

 

strange as H & J, these two species seem to have been found has a maximum altitude of 170m

 

and the stipule?

 

may be a new specie

 

jeff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...