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DESCRIPTION OF THE INFLORESCENCE OF
AMORPHOPHALLUS CAMPANULATUS BL.
By T. R. Khadilker, B.A.,
Agricultural Department, Bombay, Poona.
The inflorescence, a short description of which is given below, is of a well-known plant Amorphophallus campanulatus Bl. {Suran in Marathi) belonging to the natural order Aroideoe.
Almost all of us know this Swan plant and also the value of its under-ground corm as an article of vegetable diet. Description of this plant also occurs in many Botanical works, such as the Floras of Cooke and Hooker for example. However, the inflorescence of this plant is not an object of common observation. With this in mind, it is hoped that a figure of it accompanied by a short description will not be out of place here.
The inflorescence : — It is an elongated, slightly curved, cylindric, densely flowered spadix, divided into three distinct coloured portions. The top portion of it constitutes what is called an appendage. The portion below the appendage looks like a broad yellow band which is full of yellow coloured male flowers. The third and the last portion is also as broad as the above one and is full of brown female flowers. At a little distance below the last band there is a place of the origin of the spathe and right at the base of the peduncle we see many scale leaves surrounding the central column. The spadix is situated in the centre of the top of the bulky corm.
The total length of the spadix examined was 23 cm. of which 3 cm. was the vertical height of the appendge, 5 cm. the vertical height of the part possessing yellow coloured flowers, and the portion below of brown coloured flowers was 7 cm. The general circumference of the spadix was 18 cm.
Appendage : — It is leathery, of dark purple colour, and with the thickness of its wall — 3 cm. It is hollow inside. The inner surface of the wall is spongy and marked with ridges. It appears conical if we pull up the middle blunt tip with our fingers. Its conical structure falls in folds on the top of the inflorescence.
Yellow male flowers : — This portion of the inflorescence is yellow coloured and densely studded with sessile yellow anthers. Neither filament nor perianth is present in these male flowers.
