Rhynchopyle loi (P.C.Boyce & S.Y.Wong) S.Y.Wong & P.C.Boyce

Wong, Sin Yeng & Joling, Jyloerica, 2021, Checklist of aroids (Alismatales, Araceae) from Sabah (Malaysian Borneo), Check List 17 (3), pp. 931-974 : 961

Rhynchopyle loi (P.C.Boyce & S.Y.Wong) S.Y.Wong & P.C.Boyce

Figure 6A

Material examined. MALAYSIA – Tawau • Tawau Hills Park, trail to Bukit Gelas ; 04°23′59″N, 117°53′21″E; 25 November 1998; J. T. Pereira 551 ( SAN) • Tawau, Tawau Hills Park, Bukit Gelas Waterfall ; 04°23′00″N, 117°53′00″E; 30 June 2006; Julia S. SAN 147860 ( SAN) • Tawau River Forest Reserve ; [04°24′40″N, 117°53′28″E]; 33 m (100 ft.) elev.; 6 July 1959; W. Meijer SAN 19468 (L) .

Identification. Flowering Rhynchopyle loi most closely resembles R. pileata (S.Y.Wong & P.C.Boyce) S.Y.Wong & P.C.Boyce by the deep magenta-purple strongly rostrate spathe limb. However, R. loi is readily differentiated by the spathe basally with a prominent ventral mentum, by the larger, centrally impressed interstice staminodes held in a zone wider than the remainder of the spadix, the stamens irregularly arranged (not carried in two rows), and the proportion- ately longer staminate flower zone. The leaves of R. loi are only ca. half as long as those of R. pileata , and much narrower; the entire plant is seldom exceeding 15 cm ( Boyce and Wong 2013b).

Distribution and ecology. Endemic to Sabah. Growing on bare or moss-covered basalt waterfall rocks under perhumid lowland forest; between 200 and 300 m elevation. Typically inhabits the steep banks of muddy, meandering lowland streams and, less frequently, the floor of lowlying forest where it may be inundated in wet periods.