黄苞南星 huang bao nan xing

Arisaema daochengense P. C. Kao; A. flavum var. tibeticum (J. Murata) Gusman & L. Gusman.

Plants monoecious and male. Tuber subglobose, 1.5-2.5 cm in diam. Cataphylls 3-5, green, 8-25 cm. Leaves 1 or 2; petiole green to purplish, unmarked, 11-35 cm, sheathing for ca. 4/5 length forming pseudostem; leaf blade pedate; leaflets 5-11(-15), sessile, glaucous abaxially, green adaxially, oblong-lanceolate or obovate-lanceolate, base cuneate, apex acuminate; central leaflet largest, 9-12 × 3-5 cm; outer (lateral leaflets) gradually decreasing to outermost (1.5-4 × 1-1.2 cm). Peduncle emerging from pseudostem, green, 15-30 cm. Spathe smallest in genus, 2.5-6 cm in total; tube yellowish green, ovoid to globose, 1-1.5 × 1-1.4 cm, constricted at dark purple throat with nectar inside; limb yellow or green, inside dark purple at least at basal part, oblong-ovate, 1.5-4.5 × 0.8-2 cm, apex acuminate, slightly incurved. Spadix bisexual or male, very short, 1-2 cm in total; female zone proximal, 3-7 × 5-7 mm; ovaries congested, greenish, obovoid; stigma sessile; male zone distal, light yellow, cylindric, 3-7 × 2-3 mm; synandria congested, usually consisting of 2 anthers; thecae sessile, dehiscent by apical pore. Appendix yellowish or yellow green, ellipsoid, 2-5 × ca. 1.5 mm, very short, rugose when dry. Mature infructescence nodding, subglobose, ca. 4 cm in diam. Berries obovoid, 3-4 × 3-5 mm. Seeds 3, pale yellowish, 2-2.5 mm. Fl. May-Jun.

Rocky slopes, thickets, croplands, field sides; 2200-4400 m. W Sichuan, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, NE India].

According to chromosome number and plant size, Murata (J. Jap. Bot. 65(3): 65-73. 1990) divided Arisaema flavum into three subspecies: subsp. abbreviatum (Schott) J. Murata (2n = 56, tetraploid) including C and W Himalayan (Afghanistan to Nepal) and Arabian (Oman) plants; subsp. flavum (2n = 56, tetraploid) including African and Arabian plants; and subsp. tibeticum (2n = 28, diploid) including plants from Bhutan, China, and NE India.