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Amorphophallus commutatus
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Family:
ARACEAE
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Citation: Amorphophallus commutatus (Schott) Engl. in A. & C. DC., Monogr. Phan. 2: 319. 1879, var. commutatus; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 6: 515. 1893; Sasidh. & Sivar., Fl. Pl. Thrissur For. 483. 1996; Sivar. & Mathew, Fl. Nilambur 750. 1997; Sivad. in Manoharan et al., Silent Valley-Whispers Reason 228. 1999; Ravikumar & Ved, Illustr. Field Guide 100 Red Listed Med. Pl. 45. 2000; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 901. 2009.
Conophalus commutatus Schott, Bonplandia 7: 28. 1859 & Prodr. Syst. Aroid. 128. 1860.
Amorphophallus commutatus (Schott) Engl. var. wayanadensis Sivad. & Jaleel, Rheedea 12: 163. 2002.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Kattuchena
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Dragon Stalk Yam
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Description:
Herbs with corms. Leaves tripartitely compound, to 50 m long, leaflets elliptic, caudate-acuminate, base acute, glabrous, membranous; petiole to 50 cm long, terete; peduncle 8-10 cm long and 0.7-0.9 cm diameter, smooth, pale yellowish in colour, covered by about 4 cataphylls, each cataphyll 2.5-15 cm long and 1.5-5.0 cm broad. Spathe ovate-acute, 17-18 cm long and 4-5 cm broad, differentiated into a basal tube and an upper limb separated by a slight constriction between the two; basal tube slightly compressed, obovoid, ca. 2.5-3 cm long; limb expanded, erect, pale yellowish outside and pale brownish towards the margins; tube slightly purplish, verrucose, with unicellular hairs within. Spadix 23-25 cm long, sessile or stipitate to ca. 3-5 mm; female zone ca. 1.5 cm long, male zone cylindrical, ca. 3 cm long, appendix elongate, narrowly conical with rounded apex, 18-20 cm long, 1.3-1.5 cm diameter at base and tapering towards the tip, pale-yellowish brown to dark purplish brown in colour. Female flowers ca. 2.5 mm long, ovary sub-globose, ca. 1.5 mm high, 2 mm diameter, pale greenish, unilocular with a basal anatropous ovule; style very short; stigma ca. 1.5 mm diameter, narrower than the ovary, inconspicuously 3-lobed. Male flowers pale yellowish, densely arranged, sessile; each ca. 1.25 mm high and 1.25 mm broad, inconspicuously 2-lobed; dehiscence by apical slit-like pores.
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Habit:
Herb
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Flowering & Fruiting:
May-September
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District(s):
Malappuram, Thrissur, Wayanad, Palakkad, Kozhikkode, Kollam, Kannur
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Evergreen forests
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Distribution:
Western Ghats
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Aquatic:
No
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Epiphyte(s):
No
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Saprophyte:
No
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Stem parasite:
No
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Root parasite:
No
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Flower colour(s):
Yellow, Brown
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Weed:
No
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Monocot/Dicot:
Monocotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
No
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Garden:
No
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Edible:
No
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Vegetable:
No
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Endemic to:
Western Ghats
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
50-850
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Localities:
Peechi, Nadugani ghats, Saivila
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