Arthropodium

Primary tabs

Arthropodium

Description

Leaves basal, linear to lanceolate, gradually expanding towards the base to form (apparently dry and membranous) open sheaths, sometimes ciliate or with bristles along the margins; Inflorescence a raceme or panicle. Ovary superior, sessile, subglobose to ellipsoid, 3-celled; Capsule dehiscing loculicidally; Seeds angular.

Distribution

Asia-Tropical: New Guinea present, Australasia, Madagascar present, New Caledonia present, New Zealand present, South Papua present
Madagascar (1 sp.), New Zealand (2 spp.), New Caledonia (1 sp.), and c. 9 spp. in Australia, of which one extends into Malesia: New Guinea (South Papua).

Notes

Payens (1957) made a strong case for combining Dichopogon with Arthropodium. Nevertheless, authors (e.g. ) have continued to separate these genera principally on whether the papillose or pubescent staminal appendages are adnate to the filaments (in Arthropodium) or to the anthers (in Dichopogon). An examination of species represented at Ley den and Adelaide has convinced me that these two genera cannot be separated. A particularly significant form is A. neo- caledonicum in which the appendages are attached to both filaments and anthers such that it would be difficult to assign this species to a genus. In most of the material of Dichopogon the appendages are also distinctly adnate to the filaments as well as to the anthers. Dichopogon strictus and Arthropodium capillipes, although placed in separate genera, have almost indistinguishable stamens.

Citation

Black 1943 – In: Fl. S. Austr.: 193
Baker 1876 – In: J. Linn. Soc. Bot.: 318
Bth. 1878 – In: Fl. Austr.: 58
Payens 1957 – In: Nova Guinea n.s.: 388
Bailey 1902 – In: Queensl. Fl.: 1631
Krause 1930 – In: E. & P., Nat. Pfl. Fam., ed. 2, 15a: 286
Bailey 1902 – In: Queensl. Fl.: 1629
Ewart 1930: Fl. Vict.: 291
Hutch. 1959 – In: Fam. Fl. Pl., ed. 2: 598
Hutch. 1959 – In: Fam. Fl. Pl., ed. 2: 598
Ewart 1930: Fl. Vict.: 292
Bth. 1878 – In: Fl. Austr.: 55
Black 1943 – In: Fl. S. Austr.: 193
Schlittler 1957: p. 6. – In: Mitt. Bot. Mus. Un. Zurich: map
Krause 1930 – In: E. & P., Nat. Pfl. Fam., ed. 2, 15a: 285
Baker 1876 – In: J. Linn. Soc. Bot.: 351