ABSTRACT:

The numbers of female florets on 12 inflorescences of Alocasia brisbanensis (F. M. Bailey) Domin ranged from 117 to 231 per inflorescence with a mean of 165.6. The numbers of stigmatic lobes on 1,987 pistils of these heads ranged from 1 to 5, with those with 2 (51.9%) and 3 (42.2%) lobes predominant. Stigmas with 1 lobe (1.8%) occurred in pistils designated 'tubular' with no ovules, and 'globose' with a mean number of 2 ovules. One 4- and all 5-lobed stigmas, called 'doubles' had joined adjacent ovary walls and stigmas. The numbers of ovules ranged from 0-10, and although these figures were variable, there was a general trend for the number of ovules per ovary to increase with the number of stigmatic lobes to 4 lobes, and then decrease. The ageing of the stigmas is described, and data on various inflorescence and infructescence characteristics from the literature are listed.