Northwestern University’s NUEBG discovers plant species, its 8th discovery so far.
A botanical study spearheaded by Northwestern University’s Biodiversity Research Unit together with other partner institutions in the Ilocos Region (Philippines) resulted in the documentation of five Amorphophallus species.
New distributional records were yielded for Amorphophallus Longispathaceus and Amorphophallus Urceolatus; A. adamsensis has a new conservation status and an expanded description; as well as the description of new color variants of Amorphophallus Paeoniifolius. Moreover, Amorphophallus Flammeus, a new species, is also described and compared as a close relative.
Michael A. Calaramo, the director of the Ecosystem Management and Development Office of Northwestern University, spearheaded the Northwesterniana Expedition. He was joined by notable botanical experts from Mariano Marcos State University and The Graduate School of the University of Santo Tomas. The expedition started in 2007 and has extended for more than a decade. Among the studies produced is a manuscript titled “Notes on the genus Amorphophallus Blume ex Decne (Araceae) of Northwestern Luzon, Philippines, including a new species,” which took almost two years to complete.
It was in the summer of 2007, when the expedition had just started, that a remarkably tall, almost 2-meter-high Amorphophallus species was first encountered in the wild and initially referred to as Amorphophallus sp.1, which was then named A. adamsensis by Magtoto et al (2013). Amorphophallus sp.2, another species with a tiny goblet-shaped inflorescence, was also identified. The specimen A. sp.2 closely resembles A. urceolatus but shows distinct morphological characters; which was then the new endemic that was described and illustrated as Amorphophallus flammeus.
Two new species were added to the collections: one from a forest over limestone in June 2013, identified as Amorphophallus sp.3, and another from a 1-meter-tall flower in July 2021, labeled Amorphophallus sp.4. Notes on the genus Amorphophallus Blume ex Decne are also included. (Araceae) of northeastern Luzon, Philippines, including a new species of farm corpse flower A. Paeoniifolius was discovered to be common in the province, and is now growing in the Northwestern University Ecotourism Park and Botanic Gardens (NUEBG).
The five different species of Amorphophallus are found in the Ilocos provinces.
