Stemona lucida
Content
Description
Slender, glabrous twiner, up to 7 m.
Leaves alternate;
Inflorescence 3-many-flowered;
Flowers:
Stamens 8-12 mm long;
Fruit 8-20 by 7-12 mm, c. 0.6 mm beaked, 2-9-seeded.
Seeds elongate, rounded at the apex, 10 by 4 mm, surrounded at the base by a vesicular aril, c. 4 mm long.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Philippines (Philippines present), Australasia, Central Prov. in the surroundings of Port Moresby present, Cook District present, Ficao present, Masbate present, Milne Bay Prov present, Normanby Island present, Papua New Guinea present, northern Queensland present
Australia (northern Queensland, Cook District); in Malesia: Philippines (Masbate, Ficao); Papua New Guinea (Normanby Island, Milne Bay Prov., Central Prov. in the surroundings of Port Moresby).
Notes
The type material in BM exists of two specimens, belonging to different species. The left-hand specimen, the holotype, bears no flowers, but the two peduncles with the characteristic persisting pedicels leave no doubt about its identity. The right-hand specimen, which is sterile and without peduncles, is probably S. australiana. , placed Dioscorea lucida in S. javanica. Telford (I.e.: 180) put it aside in Stemona as a doubtfull name, because of an sterile isotype seen by him in NSW.
The inflorescences of the juvenile specimen in the collection Blake 14540, Queensland (Cook District), are situated in the lower part of the stem, in the axils of c. 5 mm long cataphylls. These leaves gradually change higher up the stem into lanceolate and hastate leaves.
The inflorescences of the juvenile specimen in the collection Blake 14540, Queensland (Cook District), are situated in the lower part of the stem, in the axils of c. 5 mm long cataphylls. These leaves gradually change higher up the stem into lanceolate and hastate leaves.