Typhonium venosum

Voodoo Lily ( Typhonium ulcers ) as a houseplant.

The Voodoo Lily ( Typhonium ulcer ) is a flowering plant in the genus Typhonium of the family Araceae ( Araceae ). In English it is called "Voodoo Lily ". Your bulb is also referred to as a miracle tuber. It is rather rare in Central Europe as an ornamental plant, although their care is quite simple. It is cultivated in botanical gardens or plant lovers.

• 4.1 Notes and references

Description and life cycle

Vegetative Stage

The Voodoo Lily is a perennial herbaceous plant. It is one of the geophytes, which are plants that spend the unfavorable seasons in the form of underground storage organs. In the case of Voodoo Lily is a starch-rich tuber sprout, which reached a diameter of up to 20 cm. Between February and April (depending on temperature ) the tubers begin to sprout. This first one inflorescence appears. Only after the pollination develop per plant usually one, sometimes two large, feathery leaves with seven to eleven leaflets and a mottled, 20 to 50 cm long petiole. The energy to drive out of the inflorescence, the plant takes solely from their memory tuber. Young tubers are formed on the mother tuber.

The blades operate over the summer photosynthesis and provide the energy to form a new corm, while the last year's storage organ shrinks to a dried film. In autumn, the plant then begins to transport their entire energy reserves in the underground tuber. The leaves and the roots will wither and die. In this form, the Voodoo Lily endures even light frosts and can re- sprout again in the spring.

Generative phase - inflorescence and pollination

The Voodoo Lily is a plant with a very sophisticated pollination mechanism. It functions similarly to that of the arum.

Structure of the inflorescence: The Voodoo Lily is monoecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( monoecious ). In most of the arum family, the flowers are combined to form a functional unit. What seems like a single flower, is actually a whole inflorescence with piston and spathe ( bract of the Araceae ). As with most species of the family, the male and female flowers separately on the piston (Latin spadix ) are arranged in the Voodoo Lily. The male flowers consist only of stamens with very short filaments; they are in both Upper part of the piston, this zone is 1-13 cm long. The female flowers are reduced to ovary and stigma and are located in the lower part of the piston. Between male and female zone is a 8 to 8.5 cm long sterile zone; over a length of about 1.0 to 1.8 cm are club-shaped, sterile flowers. The piston goes into a long extension above the male flowers. The whole inflorescence including the extension is supported by a bract (Latin spathe ) wrapped, which mottled reddish- yellow, tapering to a point and is 32 to 44 cm long. To the flowers zone around it is bulbous, boilers shaped closed and forms a so-called boiler trap for insects.

Pollination mechanism:

The sophisticated mechanism of pollination takes place in a two-day cycle:

Day 1: The spathe enclosing the inflorescence, opens in the morning and gives the brownish purple shiny piston and the boiler input free. The Voodoo Lily is mainly pollinated by flies and other carrion-eating insects. The piston produces a penetrating odor of carrion and dung, which the insects can perceive over long distances. In addition, the red-brown spotted spathe mimics the appearance of rotting flesh, which looks attractive in addition to the insects. But the Anlockmechanismus is still much more special. Inside the boiler, above the female flowers there namely so-called club- shaped organs that also produce a scent. This is very different from the carrion of the piston, it is rather pleasant, citrus -like. This second odor probably serves to direct the attracted animals inside the case. So this land on the plant, are lured into the opening of the spathe, slip off to the smooth inner walls and land at the bottom of the boiler. There are also the female flowers.

Fertilization can only occur when the insects bring back from a visit to another Voodoo Lily Pollen already. The prisoners are held overnight, the spathe curves even over the opening and closing them to prevent escape.

On the 2nd day of the flowering cycle be opened until the stamens of the male flowers and enter the pollen -free, which trickles down to the flies and they crawl through. The spathe opens again, it will wither and thus the previously slippery surface for insects to walk on. The laden with pollen animals leave the inflorescence, which is now no longer smells so seductive. With any luck, they then land on another Voodoo Lily inflorescence, which is just capable of pollination, and the procedure begins again.

Fruit and seeds

Are formed red berries. The egg-shaped seeds are about 1.8 mm wide.

Occurrence

This species has natural areas in Bhutan, in northwestern India ( Simla ), Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim and in the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Xizang. It grows in evergreen rain forests, secondary vegetation in meadows along rivers and on roadsides at altitudes from 1350 to 2030 meters.

System

Synonyms for Typhonium ulcers ( Aiton ) Hett. & PCBoyce are Sauromatum ulcers ( Ait. ) Kunth, Sauromatum abyssinicum Schott, Sauromatum guttatum ( wall. ) Schott, Arum guttatum Ait. The species of the genus Sauromatum were incorporated Typhonium in the genus.

Swell

• J. Nasir Yasin: Araceae in Flora of Pakistan Sauromatum venosum - Online. ( Description section )
• Voodoo Lily in the Botanical Garden of the Ruhr - University Bochum.