Ombrophytum peruvianum Poepp. & Endl.

  • Authority

    Hansen, Bertel. 1980. Balanophoraceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 23: 1-80. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Balanophoraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Ombrophytum peruvianum Poepp. & Endl.

  • Type

    Type. Poeppig sn,  in sylvis densis Peruviae subandinae ad Cuchero ca. 1830, studied at W by Eichler (1873), but not located there by Asplund (1928) nor later. The name may be typified by the description and illustration in Poepp. & Endl., Nov. Gen. 2: 40, t. 155. 1838. Attention should be drawn also to the details illustrated by Eichl. in Mart., Fl. Bras. 4. 2: t. 16, f. I. 1-4. 1869.

  • Synonyms

    Ombrophytum zamioides Wedd.

  • Description

    Deprecated: mb_convert_encoding(): Handling HTML entities via mbstring is deprecated; use htmlspecialchars, htmlentities, or mb_encode_numericentity/mb_decode_numericentity instead in /home/emu/nybgweb/www-dev/htdocs/science-dev/wp-content/themes/nybgscience/lib/VHMonographsDetails.php on line 179

    Species Description - Description based on dry material, illustrations, and color slide. Whitish to light flesh coloured, monoecius plants (inflorescence bisexual). Total length up to 35 cm. Tuber spheroidal to depressed ellipsoidal, up to 13 cm wide. Volva 5-10 cm long, irregularly 2-3 lobed, enveloping lower sterile part of inflorescence. Inflorescence with lower sterile part 7-13 cm long and 3-7 cm diam., intermediar female part 5-7 cm long, and upper male part 8-15 cm long. Inflorescence branches each subtended by a caducous, peltate bract with a terete or slightly flattened petiole 6-7 mm long and a conspicuously crenate, subcircular pelta 7-8 mm diam. Male branches 5-10 mm long with 10-50 flowers alternately inserted in fissures, and a peltately widened, slightly crenate apical part about 5-6 mm diam. Flowers without a perianth. Stamens 2, filaments about 1 mm long, anthers about 2 mm long and 1 mm across. Pollen grains spheroid to prolate, tricolporate, P 28 µm, E 18-27 µm. Female branches 8-20 mm long, with 40-100 flowers densely arranged in the narrow, terete or slightly flattened lower part; apical part peltately enlarged, pelta 6-8 mm diam., irregularly crenate-dentate often somewhat undulate and viscose. Female flowers without a perianth, obconical, prismatic due to mutual pressure. Ovary 1.5 mm long and up to 0.75 mm wide; styles 2, appearing from a shallow pit at the truncate apical part of the ovary.

  • Distribution

    In dense tropical rain forest up to 500 m alt. in Ecuador, Peru and Brazil (Acre). Flowering September to November. Parasitizing roots of trees; host not known.

    Ecuador South America| Napo Ecuador South America| Peru South America| San Martín Peru South America| Brazil South America| Acre Brazil South America|