55 



DESCRIPTION OF THE INFLORESCENCE OF 

 AMORPHOPHALLUS CAMPANULATUS BL. 



By T. R. Khadilkbr, 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. 



