Heteropsis melinonii, (Engl.) A. M. E. Jonker and Jonker, Acta Bot. Neerl.

Soares, M. Lourdes, Mayo, Simon J. & Gribel, Rogério, 2013, A Preliminary Taxonomic Revision of Heteropsis (Araceae), Systematic Botany (Basel, Switzerland) 38 (4), pp. 925-974 : 973

Doubtful Names— HETEROPSIS MELINONII (Engl.) A. M. E. Jonker and Jonker ,

Acta Bot. Neerl. 2: 356. 1953. Rhodospatha blanda subsp. melinonii Engl. , Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 1: 483. 1881. Rhodospatha melinonii (Engl.) Engl. and K. Krause in Engler, Pflanzenr., IV, 23 B: 96. 1908.

— TYPE: FRENCH GUIANA. On the banks of the Rio Maroni , Mélinon 91, Mélinon 817 (syntypes: P! ster) .

Plant a hemi-epiphyte. Petiole ca. 6 cm long, sheath persistent, 6 mm broad on each side at the base, narrowing towards the apex, terminating in a geniculum 6–8 mm long; leaf blade 24 cm long, 10 cm wide, coriaceous, adaxially green, abaxially paler and glaucous-pruinose, oblong, apex shortly apiculate, base obtuse, lateral veins numerous and undifferentiated, arising from the midrib at an angle of ca. 90, midrib well-differentiated, impressed adaxially, prominent abaxially. Peduncle and fertile parts unknown.

Habitat and Distribution— Heteropsis melinonii was described from lowland forest in French Guiana.

Etymology— The specific epithet refers to the botanist Eugène Mélinon, the collector of the syntypes.

Notes— Heteropsis melinonii was described by Engler as Rhodospatha blanda subsp. melinonii , based on two sterile specimens collected in French Guiana by Mélinon (Mélinon 91, Mélinon 817) and held at the Herbarium of the Paris Museum (P). Later, Engler and Krause promoted the subspecies to specific rank and redescribed the taxon based on the same specimens as Rhodospatha melinonii (Engl.) Engl. & Krause ; our description is a translation of theirs. Jonker-Verhoef and Jonker (1953) transferred this species to Heteropsis . We have so far been unable to locate these specimens at the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle (P) in Paris. The description of H. melinonii shows some striking resemblances to H. steyermarkii , particularly in the pruinose abaxial leaf surface, the oblong leaf blade and especially the free, long-sheathed petioles and the two taxa may well be conspecific.