Typhonium morangense R. Ojha & S. Rai, 2025

Ojha, Rijan, Rai, Sudeep & Schneider, Harald, 2025, Typhonium morangense (Araceae), a new species from the tropical forest of Eastern Nepal, PhytoKeys 252, pp. 1-7 : 1-7

Typhonium morangense R. Ojha & S. Rai sp. nov.

Fig. 1

Type.

NEPAL, Koshi Province, Morang District, Pathari Shanishchare Municipality ; 26°39'59"N, 87°33'29"E; ca. 150 m; 2024.06.03; Sudeep Rai MP 011 [holotype KATH! isotypes KATH! [MP 012], TUCH!, TURH!] .

Diagnosis.

Typhonium morangense is morphologically closely related to T. inopinatum but it differs significantly from the latter species in having (1) smaller habit, 10–24 cm height (vs. 10–45 cm in T. inopinatum ); (2) globose bulbils on top of petiole and leaves (vs. bulbils absent); (3) a sessile appendix (vs. subsessile); (4) thick, sickle-shaped staminodes (vs. filiform); (5) staminodes half curved downwards (vs. horizontally spread or, slightly curved); (6) ovary white (vs. yellowish) and (7) stigma pink (vs. yellow).

Description.

Seasonally dormant small herb, 10–24 cm tall; Tuber 0.8–2 cm long, 1–2 cm diameter, upright, sub-globose to sub-cylindrical with many filiform roots, without rhizomatous offsets. Leaves 2–5 together; petiole 10–23 cm long, light brown, grayish brown at base to light green at apex, globose black bulbil on the top of petiole. Leaf blade entire, hastate or shallowly or deeply tri-lobed or trifoliolate, glabrous, adaxially green, abaxially lighter green, 5–11 cm long, 2–7 cm wide when hastate, 10–12 cm when deeply trilobed, globose black bulbil on the basal margin of the leaf. Inflorescence solitary, usually 1–2 together, shorter than petiole; peduncle subterranean, white, 1.2–3.8 cm long; spathe 5.5–12 cm long, tube and limb separated by a constriction, grayish pink outside, inside dark reddish purple color; spathe tube ovoid to cylindric, 1–1.5 cm long, 1–1.7 cm diameter, outside grayish pink, inside reddish purple; spathe limb narrowly triangular, 4.5–10.5 cm long, 1–3 cm wide, smoothly tapering from below middle, apex acute; spadix 6.5–9.5 cm long, as long as spathe or slightly longer, sessile; female zone conical, 2–6 mm long, 4–5 mm diameter at the base, slightly pink, ovary unilocular, white with one dark yellow basal ovule, style absent, stigma sessile, disc shape with dark pink over the periphery; staminodes arranged in three whorls, free at the base, thick sickle-shaped, half-length curved downwards, yellow, glabrous, cover 1 / 3 th of the female zone; male zone 5–8 mm long, 3–5 mm diameter, cylindrical, stamens congested, thecae two, irregular, coral pink to sandy brown color with apical short slits or pores; appendix usually sessile, 2.7–7.7 cm long, narrowly elongated conical, dark reddish purple, base obliquely truncate, top acute, inside semisolid. Fruits ovoid to capsule-shaped, 0.2–0.3 cm diameter, 0.3–0.4 cm long, slightly light green at initial stages while turning white after maturity.

Phenology.

Flowering in May to June, fruiting July to August.

Etymology.

The specific epithet is based on the locality of its discovery, the Morang district of Eastern Nepal.

Distribution and habitat.

The new species is known from Pathari Shanishchare municipality, Morang district, growing under the canopy of dense Shorea robusta Gaertn. forest at ca. 150 m asl. This species prefers moist shady floors under the dense canopy of forest.

Uses.

No reports for utilization by the local human population are known.

Conservation status.

The new species has been recorded only from its type locality, where it forms patchy stands of approximately 150 individuals. However, it is highly likely to be present in similar nearby habitats. Together with the type locality, these undiscovered sites are expected to contain several hundreds of individuals. Until further investigation, the species is provisionally designated as “ Data Deficient ” (DD) following the IUCN standards ( IUCN 2024). Conservation biologists active in Eastern Nepal may want to consider this species as requiring attention, as it is a local endemic known only from this region.

Taxonomic notes.

The hastate leaf shape, small inflorescence size, and presence of a few staminodes are shared characteristics between Typhonium inopinatum and T. morangense . However, apart from key differences presented in diagnosis, T. morangense can be distinguished from T. inopinatum by the color of the spathe (grayish pink outside and reddish purple inside vs. basally brownish, apically green), the color of appendix (reddish purple vs. yellow, yellowish-brown), the length of the spadix (as long as or slightly longer than the spathe vs. shorter than the spathe), the female flowers (without style vs. with style). T. morangense also shares several similarities with T. roxburghii , in the habit and the color of spathe. However, T. morangense differs from T. roxburghii in several characteristics: the size of the inflorescence (spathe limb 4.5–10.5 × 1–3 cm vs. 13–15 × ~ 5 cm; appendix 2.7–7.7 cm vs. 12–15 cm), the arrangement of the staminodes (arranged in three whorls vs. more than three whorls; half-length curved downward vs. only the tips pointing downward), the appendix (sessile vs. stipitate), the shape of the ovule (ellipsoid vs. ovoid), and the color of the stigma (pink vs. purple). Although T. inopinatum and T. roxburghii share several similar characters with T. morangense , neither has bulbils.

Bulbils have also been reported in the Indian endemic T. bulbiferum and T. cordifolium distributed in Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia ( Nguyen et al. 2022). These two species differ from T. morangense by having triangular to sagittate or cordate leaves in T. bulbiferum and ovate to elliptic leaves in T. cordifolium (vs. hastate, tri-lobed, or trifoliolate leaves in T. morangense ). Additionally, T. bulbiferum has a linear-lanceolate, pale rose spathe with an acuminate apex, and T. cordifolium has a narrowly triangular-ovate, dark reddish-purple to purplish spathe with an acuminate and apically curled apex (vs. narrowly triangular, grayish-pink spathe with a dark reddish-purple interior and an acute apex in T. morangense ).

It is noted that a plant from India with globose bulbils on the lower leaf margin and the petiole apex, which was identified as T. roxburghii by Nirola and Das (2014), was recently confirmed to be a misidentification ( Manudev and Nampy 2022). This indicates uncertainty in identification due to the presence of bulbils.

A comprehensive morphological comparison of the new species with these related species is presented in Table 1 .

For now, the new species is considered endemic to Nepal, but further research is necessary to confirm its distribution range, particularly the potential occurrence in India. Special attention should be given to critically studying specimens with globose bulbils.

Figures

Figure 1. Typhonium morangense sp. nov. A whole plant B different forms of leaf blade C bulbils D inflorescence E male zone F female zone and staminodes G longitudinal section of appendix H fruits.