A flora of Manila - Rainforestation

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A FLORA OF MANILA
1. C. ESCULENTUM (L.) Schott (C. antiquoriim Schott). Gabi (Tag.); Taro.
Leaves two or three or more, long-petioled, ovate, 20 to 50 cm long,
glaucous, entire, acute or shortly and sharply acuminate, with a broad,
triangular, basal sinus extending one-third or half-way to the insertion of
the petiole, the basal lobes broad, rounded; petiole green or purplish, 0.2
to 1 m long. Peduncles usually solitary. Spathe variable in length but
usually about 20 cm long, the tubular part green, usually about 4 cm long,
the limb lanceolate, acuminate, involute, yellow, about 20 cm long. Spadix
cylindric, about 8 cm long, green below, yellow or straw-colored above.
Commonly cultivated in low wet lands, fl. Sept.-Dec; in general cultiva-
tion throughout the Philippines. Probably a native of India, now cultivated
in all tropical countries.
In addition to the species considered above, some exotic forms are
cultivated, especially of the American genera Anthurium and Philodendron.
No attempt has been made to include these forms as material for proper
classification has not been available.
17. LEMNACEAE (DUCKWEED OR LiA Family)
Small or minute, green, scale-like plants, rootless or with capillary roots,
floating on stagnant fresh water, propagated by budding, or by bulbils,
rarely flowering. Flowers monoceious, 1 to 3 from the margins 'or upper
surface, naked or in a spathe, the perianth none. Stamens 1 or 2. Ovary
1-celled, 1- to 7-ovuled.
Genera 3, species about 20, in all countries, all genera and 4 or 5 species
in the Philippines.
Plants bearing a single root 1. Lemna
Plants bearing several to many roots 2. Spirodela
1. LEMNA Linnaeus
Small floating plants bearing a single root, the flowers borne in marginal
clefts. Filaments slender; anthers 2-celled. Ovules 1 or more. (Greek
name of a water plant.)
Species about 15 in all countries, 2 or 3 in the Philippines.
1. L. paucicostata Hegelm. Lia (Tag.) ; Duckweed.
Plant flat, green or both surfaces, elliptic to oblong-ovate, rounded, very
slightly inequilateral, faintly or distinctly 3-nerved, 2 to 4 mm long.
Common on stagnant pools of fresh water, sometimes nearly covering
the surface; throughout the Philippines. Cosmopolitan in the tropics.
2. SPIRODELA Schleiden
Differing from Lemna in the plants bearing several to many roots.
Species 2, of wide distribution, 1 in the Philippines.
1. S. polyrrhiza (L.) Schleid. Lia (Tag.).
Plant nearly or quite flat, orbicular to obovate, rounded, 4 to 7 mm
long, faintly about 7-nerved, the upper surface green, the lower one
purplish.
Floating on pools of stagnant fresh water, occasional ;
in the Philippines. In most temperate and tropical regions.
widely distributed