Schismatoglottis motleyana (Schott) Engl.

Wong, Sin Yeng & Joling, Jyloerica, 2021, Checklist of aroids (Alismatales, Araceae) from Sabah (Malaysian Borneo), Check List 17 (3), pp. 931-974 : 964-965

Schismatoglottis motleyana (Schott) Engl.

Material examined. MALAYSIA – Federal Territory of Labuan • Labuan, T. Motley s.n. (holo, K).

Identification. Schismatoglottis motleyana is a highly variable species. It is characterised, within the S. calyptrata group, by a slender subcylindric spadix without a sterile interstice (though occasionally there may be a concentration of interpistillar staminodes at the interface

of the two fertile zones), a slender cylindric to very narrowly obconoid male zone held partly within the lower spathe chamber and a subcylindric to very narrowly conoid appendix. However, these are features shared with S. trifasciata Engl. , another highly variable species, in this case with a very wide range of leaf shape, venation pattern and petiolar ornamentation. The two species can be distinguished by the length/width ratios of the spadix (measured from dried specimens; width taken at the base of the appendix), which are around 40: 1 in S. trifasciata (range 30:1–50:1) and around 15: 1 in S. motleyana (range 10:1––22:1 (–26:1)). Plants with the high extreme ratio in S. motleyana , which are unusual, approach the low extreme ratio in S. trifasciata , and so these two species can be difficult to separate at the extremes of their variation ( Hay and Yuzammi 2000).

Distribution and ecology. Labuan endemic, but is never refound. Terrestrial (rarely lithophytic) on secondary and mature rainforest floor and in disturbed sites (rub- ber plantations) over a variety of substrates; sea level to ca. 1400 m elev.