Rhizanthes zippelii
Content
Description
Flowers unisexual or bisexual, buds up to 10 by 5 cm, pinkish, smooth, at anthesis first concolorous white, later bright red or brown, 8-21 cm in diameter incl. the wormlike apical appendages.
Fruit subglobose, up to 6.5 cm diameter, brown, hidden by the dark-brown dried perianth.
Seeds oblong, c. 0.75 by 0.3 mm, appendage oblong, about half as long as the seed.
Distribution
Aceh present, Bengkulu present, Ciapus canyon present, Lampong present, Mt Salak present, Perak present, Sarawak no firm records present, W Kalimantan present, W Sumatra present, from Sabah present
Sumatra (Aceh, W Sumatra, Bengkulu, Lampong), Peninsular Malaysia (Perak), Borneo (W Kalimantan, from Sabah and Sarawak no firm records), W Java (Ciapus canyon, Mt Salak).
Ecology
Host is usually Tetrastigma papillosum (Blume) Planch., occasionally T. leucostaphylum (Dennst.) Alston ex Mabb. (names based on herbarium study by the present author). Van der Pijl reported a species of Villebrunea sp. (Urticaceae) as host.
Notes
Blume's original illustration of the flower reproduced repeatedly in the literature has given rise to some confusion because the flower shown had not yet fully expanded, the perianth lobes still sticking together in groups of 3 to 5.
The first illustrations of Rhizanthes lowii showed flowers with all perianth lobes free from each other. Heinricher , who found R. zippelii in its natural situation, was considering to describe it as a new species (R. bakhuizenii ?). Probably Blume's flower was produced in the laboratory after the host and buds were dug up from the jungle. There is nothing to indicate that the flower from Mt Salak represented a different species than those later discovered at all other localities. Backer & Bakhuizen f. (1963) distinguished two forms: R. zippelii s.s. with white or flesh-coloured perianth, etc. from the Salak, and 'Brugmansia bakhuizenii' with bright red perianth, etc. from Mt Gede, Cidadap, and Garut. The latter, however, is nothing else than the phase shown by flowers on the second or third day of flowering. Since 1940 there have been no more reports of this species from Java (pers. obs., Kostermans pers. comm.). In October 1981 Meijer saw still some specimens of Tetrastigma papillosum in the steep Ciapus Canyon on Mt Salak. Cultivation and tree plantations had replaced the original forest at the margin of the canyon. No botanists have penetrated into the canyon in the past 60 years, but Meijer found in August 1996 that guides are leading parties into it.
The first illustrations of Rhizanthes lowii showed flowers with all perianth lobes free from each other. Heinricher , who found R. zippelii in its natural situation, was considering to describe it as a new species (R. bakhuizenii ?). Probably Blume's flower was produced in the laboratory after the host and buds were dug up from the jungle. There is nothing to indicate that the flower from Mt Salak represented a different species than those later discovered at all other localities. Backer & Bakhuizen f. (1963) distinguished two forms: R. zippelii s.s. with white or flesh-coloured perianth, etc. from the Salak, and 'Brugmansia bakhuizenii' with bright red perianth, etc. from Mt Gede, Cidadap, and Garut. The latter, however, is nothing else than the phase shown by flowers on the second or third day of flowering. Since 1940 there have been no more reports of this species from Java (pers. obs., Kostermans pers. comm.). In October 1981 Meijer saw still some specimens of Tetrastigma papillosum in the steep Ciapus Canyon on Mt Salak. Cultivation and tree plantations had replaced the original forest at the margin of the canyon. No botanists have penetrated into the canyon in the past 60 years, but Meijer found in August 1996 that guides are leading parties into it.