New or Noteworthy Plant Collections from Myanmar (4) :Typhonium cordifolium and two new species, T. neogracile and T. praecox (Araceae)

Abstract

Three species of Typhonium (Araceae) newly recorded from Myanmar in the course of the ongoing inventory work for the floristic analysis of Myanmar are reported with taxonomic comments. The first species, Typhonium cordifolium, has been known from Thailand only. The second species, previously called T. gracile and known from Khasi Hill in North India, was re-described as T. neogracile based on the plants collected from Myanmar. The tuber of the third species, Typhonium praecox, was sold at sightseeing places in the Kyaikhtiyo Wildlife Sanctuary, Mon State, for domestic medicinal use. It was cultivated to flower in Japan and recognized as a new species. It is characteristic that the flowering shoot does not have a foliage leaf so that the inflorescence appears above ground much earlier than the normal leaves.