Neoalsomitra schefferiana subsp. podagrica
Content
Description
Base of main stem(s) fleshy, thickened, flask- or spindle-shaped up to 100 cm long, by 10 cm diam., sometimes with additional superposed thickened bases of lateral stems;
Leaves: lower 3-foliolate, upper 3- or 5-foliolate.
Fruit many per infructescence, almost glabrous, 1.5-2 by 0.7-0.8 cm, base narrowed or rounded;
Seeds pear-shaped in outline, 4-5 by 3-3.5 mm, faces coarsely tuberculate and with irregular radial crests, wings 6.5-8.5 by 3.5-4.5 mm.
Distribution
Alor Is present, Semau Is present, Timor present, eastern Lesser Sunda Islands present
Eastern Lesser Sunda Islands (Alor Is., Semau Is., and Timor).
Taxonomy
1. Although the subspecies seems widespread in Timor it is noteworthy that this conspicuous plant was not seen by the old French and Dutch collectors, who collected the pachypodous N. hederifolia (syn. N. timorana) several times. In the wild, subsp. podagrica seems to flower or fruit at a not known period, under a strong seasonal climate, but apparently not frequently.
2 This subspecies was already, though unnamed, pictured and described in a manuscript by Father Alberti de San Tomé about 1750, in Lisbon (as was discovered there by Koster, postmaster at Kupang (see Van Steenis (1956), ).