Araceae
Scindapsus

Scindapsus officinalis (Roxb.) Schott

First published in H.W.Schott & S.L.Endlicher, Melet. Bot.: 21 (1832)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Indian Subcontinent to Indo-China. It is a climber and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Descriptions

CATE Araceae, 17 Dec 2011. araceae.e-monocot.org

Distribution

Nepal through NE India (type) and the tropical and subtropical Himalaya to Thailand and S Indo-China.

General Description

Evergreen herb to 0.8 m tall. Subterranean stem a rhizome, to 20 × 3–6 cm, light brown outside, purplish brown inside. Cataphylls separately sheathing petiole and peduncle, 10–20 cm long, brown; petiole to 70 × 0.8–2 cm wide, green and brown mottled; leaf blade trifoliolate; leaflets elliptic-ovate, to 30 cm long, margins entire and sometimes undulate, apex acuminate, ending in an arista 1 cm long, base convex, with a petiolule 1–5 cm long, plain glossy green, sometimes marked with creamy blotches and veins above, underside glaucous green. Inflorescence held well below the foliage; peduncle 18–25 cm long × 6–8 mm across, green and red mottled; spathe tube funnel-shaped, ca 6 × 1.5 cm at the base, widening to 2.5 cm near the mouth, pale green, white at the base; spathe mouth margins recurved, to 1 cm wide; spathe limb ovate-oblong, ca 7 × 3 cm, glossy dark green, ending in an acuminate–filiform tip to 1 cm long; spadix appendix hardly exserted from the tube, to 3.5 cm long × 2–3 mm wide, sessile, covered with filiform bristles from base to apex, these ca 1 cm long, red-brown or green; fertile zone staminate or bisexual, 3–4 cm long × ca 8 mm wide; staminate flowers 2–4-androus; anthers carmine, stalked, 1 mm long; thecae dehiscent by an oblong pore; pistillate flowers densely arranged; oblong-ovoid and flattened on top; stigma short-styled, white, penicillate. Infructescence on an erect peduncle, cylindrical, to 6.5 × 3 cm; fruits red when ripe, prismatic, ca 1.2 cm wide, somewhat lobed, flattened and depressed on top, up to 2 seeds per berry. Seeds globose, 5–6 mm diam.

Habitat

Dry deciduous, dry evergreen and dry mixed lowland to hill forest, on granite, sandstone & limestone. ca 600 m asl.

[CATE]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Uses

Use

An Ayurvedic medicinal plant with anti-inflammatory and antihistamine properties.

[CATE]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • CATE Araceae

    • Haigh, A., Clark, B., Reynolds, L., Mayo, S.J., Croat, T.B., Lay, L., Boyce, P.C., Mora, M., Bogner, J., Sellaro, M., Wong, S.Y., Kostelac, C., Grayum, M.H., Keating, R.C., Ruckert, G., Naylor, M.F. and Hay, A., CATE Araceae, 17 Dec 2011.
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images