Amorphophallus maximus - black spathe

Description:

In the wild in a coastal thorn bush vegetation in Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique. The base of the sterile part of the spadix is 3,5 cm in diameter, and thus corresponds with the typical subspecies (maximus), rather than the fischeri subspecies (supposed to be 1.5-2,5 cm in diameter, according to N.E. Brown in Fl.Trop.Afr.). The dark colour of the spathe, in combination with the verrucose inside of the base of the spathe, corresponds with A. leopoldianus in the same publication (Brown, 1901). A. leopoldianus is now considered a synonym of A. angolensis. Brown, however, distinguishes the 2 species by the texture of the inside of the spathe - verrucose in A. leopoldianus (as in A. maximus and A. fischeri) and pubescent in A. angolensis.