The Genus Eminium
 
The Genus Eminium by Peter Boyce

Eminium (Blume) Schott, Aroideae 16 (1855, “1853”). Lectotype: E. spiculatum (Blume) Schott (Arum spiculatum Blume)
Helicophyllum Schott, Aroideae 20 (1855, “1853”), non Bridel (1827).

Medium-sized, seasonally dormant herbs, tuber sub-globose with waxy powder apically and between cataphylls. Leaves 3 – 6 (– 8); petiole sheath relatively long; lamina oblong-elliptic (E. lehmannii, E. regelii, E. koenenianum), linear- to auriculate-hastate, or pedatifid-pedatisect with lobes of posterior divisions held ± erect in a spiral on the twisted basal ribs; primary lateral veins of lobes pinnate, forming submarginal collective vein, higher order venation reticulate. Inflorescence solitary, appearing with leaves, always smelling foetid; peduncle much shorter than petiole of subtending leaf, apex often greatly thickened; spathe marcescent, tube with convolute margins, subventricose to oblong, blade oblong or ovate-oblong, erect, inner surface sometimes densely
rugose-wrinkled (E. spiculatum); spadix sessile, slender, shorter than spathe, female zone short-cylindric, separated from male zone by longer zone bearing usually scattered sterile flowers, male zone ellipsoid to cylindric, shorter, equalling or longer than female; appendix usually relatively short, elongate-clavate, stoutly to narrowly cylindric, sessile or stalked, smooth or rugose (E. koenenianum, E. spiculatum); flowers unisexual, perigone absent; staminate flowers 2-androus, stamens free, anthers subsessile to sessile, connective slender, thecae oblong-ellipsoid, dehiscing by apical slit; staminodes composed of subulate, sometimes flattened, patent, straight to slightly curved processes; female flowers ovary ellipsoid-obovoid, 1-locular, ovules 2, orthotropous, funicle short, placenta basal to subbasal, stylar region short to inconspicuous, stigma hemispheric; berry subglobose, 1(–2) seeded; seed obnapiform to subglobose, testa leathery, rugose, with large strophiole, embryo small, elongate, endosperm copious. 2n = 24, 28.

DISTRIBUTION. Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Lebanon, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenestan, Uzbekistan.

ECOLOGY. Warm temperate and subtropical habitats in fields, savannas, semideserts, deserts; geophytes, stony or sandy ground, consolidated sand.

ETYMOLOGY. From an ancient name eminion, mentioned by Dodoens in 1574.

Key to Species of Eminium

1. Spathe limb interor warty and wrinkled .....................................................................................................   2
    Spathe limb interior smooth ....................................................................................................................   3
2. Flowering diurnal. Spathe limb 12 – 20 cm x 7 – 14 cm; spathe tube 8 – 12 cm x 2.5 – 4 cm diam. ..............   1a. spiculatum ssp. spiculatum
    Flowering nocturnal. Spathe limb 5 – 11 x 4 – 7; spathe tube 5 – 8 x 1.7 3 diam. .....................................   1b. spiculatum ssp. negevense
3. Peduncle thickened markedly towards its junction with the spathe .............................................................   4
    Peduncle not or scarcely thickened towards its junction with the spathe ....................................................   9
4. Leaves with highly divided posterior lobes ................................................................................................   5
    Leaves entire or with only two orders of posterior lobe division ...................................................................   7
5. Anterior lobe of leaf lanceolate, acute, posterior lobe divisions narrowly lanceolate to linear, ± strongly     involute. Spathe erect to reflexed; spadix appendix slender cylindrical ........................................................   2. albertii
    Anterior lobe of leaf broadly oblong, obtuse, posterior lobe divisions broadly linear, ± flat,
    occasionally suberect. Spathe incurved over the spadix, sometimes almost cucullate; spadix appendix     conical to broadly cylindrical ..................................................................................................................  
  6
6. Spadix appendix short-stalked, ± broadly cylindrical to slightly conical .......................................................
  5a. rauwolfii var. rauwolfii
    Spadix appendix sessile, strongly conical ...............................................................................................   5b. rauwolfii var. kotschyi
7. Spadix appendix ± sessile, tapering gradually proximally; staminodes dense   8. regelii
    Spadix appendix distinctly stipitate; staminodes scattered   8
8. Leaves entire, green with white patches. Spadix appendix rugulose; staminodes all subulate   6. koenenianum
    Leaf with posterior lobes with one or two orders of division, very rarely entire, grey-green. Spadix appendix     smooth; upper staminodes subulate, lower staminodes flattened   4. heterophyllum
9. Leaves with much divided posterior lobes. Spadix appendix slender to broadly conical   3. intortum
    Leaves entire. Spadix appendix slender cylindrical   7. lehmannii

1. Eminium spiculatum (Blume) Schott, Syn. Aroid.: 17 (1856).
Arum spiculatum Blume, Rumphia 1: 121 (1836).
Helicophyllum spiculatum (Blume) Schott, Prodr. Syst. Aroid.: 113 (1860).

1a. subsp. spiculatum
Dracunculus minor Blume, Rumphia 1: 125 (1837).
Arum crassipes Boiss., Diagn. Pl. Orient. 13: 9 (1854).
Helicophyllum crassipes (Boiss.) Schott, Syn. Aroid.: 22 (1856).
Helicophyllum angustatum Schott, Syn. Aroid.: 22 (1856).
Helicophyllum loftusii Schott, Oesterr. Bot. Wochenbl. 7: 263 (1857).
Helicophyllum dracunculus Schott, Prodr. Syst. Aroid.: 115 (1860).
Helicophyllum crassipes f. tigrina Engl. in A.L.P.de Candolle & A.C.P.de Candolle, Monogr. Phan. 2: 600 (1879).
Eminium spiculatum var. tigrinum (Engl.) Engl., Pflanzenr., IV, 23F: 130 (1920).
DISTRIBUTION. Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, N Iran, N Iraq.

1b. subsp. negevense Koach & Feinbrun, in Fl. Palaestina 4: 397 (1986).
DISTRIBUTION. Israel (Sinai).

2. Eminium albertii (Regel) Engl., Pflanzenr., IV, 23F: 131 (1920).
Helicophyllum albertii Regel, Trudy Imp. S.-Petersburgsk. Bot. Sada 8: 683 (1884).
DISTRIBUTION. Afghanistan, Turkmenestan, Uzbekistan.

3. Eminium intortum (Banks & Sol.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 741 (1891).
Arum intortum Banks & Sol. in A.Russell, Aleppo, ed. 2, 2: 264 (1794).
Helicophyllum intortum (Banks & Sol.) Eig, J. Bot. 75: 189 (1937).
Helicophyllum olivieri Schott, Syn. Aroid.: 22 (1856).
Helicophyllum russelianum Schott, Prodr. Syst. Aroid.: 118 (1860).
DISTRIBUTION. S & E Turkey, Syria.

4. Eminium heterophyllum (Blume) Schott, Syn. Aroid.: 17 (1856).
Arum heterophyllum Blume, Rumphia 1: 121 (1836).
Eminium intortum subsp. heterophyllum (Blume) Riedl, in Fl. Iraq 8: 199 (1985).
Helicophyllum aucheri Schott, Prodr. Syst. Aroid.: 113 (1860).
DISTRIBUTION. SE Turkey, Syria, SW Iran.

5. Eminium rauwolffii (Blume) Schott, Syn. Aroid.: 17 (1856).
Arum rauwolffii Blume, Rumphia 1: 122 (1836).
Helicophyllum rauwolffii (Blume) Schott, Prodr. Syst. Aroid.: 113 (1860).

5a. var. rauwolffii
Helicophyllum luph Schott, Prodr. Syst. Aroid.: 118 (1860).
DISTRIBUTION. SE Turkey, N Syria.

5b. var. kotschyi (Schott) Riedl, Aroideana 3: 23 (1980).
Helicophyllum kotschyi Schott, Prodr. Syst. Aroid.: 144 (1860).
Helicophyllum rauwolffii var. kotschyi (Schott) Engl. in A.L.P.de Candolle & A.C.P.de Candolle, Monogr. Phan. 2: 599 (1879).
Eminium intortum var. kotschyi (Schott) Engl., Pflanzenr., IV, 23F: 130 (1920).
Eminium intortum subsp. kotschyi (Schott) Riedl, Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien 73: 111F: 130 (1969).
DISTRIBUTION. S Turkey, Syria.

6. Eminium koenenianum Lobin & P.C.Boyce, Willdenowia 20: 43 (1991).
DISTRIBUTION. NE Turkey.

7. Eminium lehmannii (Bunge) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 741 (1891).
Biarum lehmannii Bunge, Mém. Sav. Étr. Acad. St. Pétersbourg 7: 327 (1851).
Ischarum lehmannii (Bunge) Schott, Syn. Aroid.: 7 (1856).
Helicophyllum lehmannii (Bunge) Regel, Trudy Imp. S.-Petersburgsk. Bot. Sada 7: 549 (1880).
Typhonium crassifolium Ledeb., Fl. Ross. 4: 10 (1852).
Helicophyllum crassifolium (Ledeb.) Engl. in A.L.P.de Candolle & A.C.P.de Candolle, Monogr. Phan. 2: 597 (1879).
Eminium ledebourii Schott, Syn. Aroid.: 17 (1856).
DISTRIBUTION. Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Turkmenestan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.

8. Eminium regelii Vved. in Schreder (ed.), Fl. Uzbekist. 1: 540 (1941).
DISTRIBUTION. Kirghizia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.

 

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