Scientific name: Aspidistra atrata Aver., Tillich & Q.H. Bui
English name:
Vietnamese name: Tỏi đá đen
Other name:

Terrestrial perennial herb with hypogeous, much branching, plagiotropic rhizome.  Rhizome rigid, many-nodal, (3)4  –5(6) cm long, (2)2.5 –  4(5.5) mm in diam., with many thick,  pale yellowish-gray roots, 2.5 –3 mm in diam. Leafy part of rhizome plagiotropic or hardly  ascending, short, (1)1.5 –2.5(3) cm long, covered by papyraceous, dull yellowish-brown remains  of cataphylls, with (4)5 –7(8) leaves. Young cataphylls conduplicate to almost tabular, narrowly  triangular lanceolate (being flattened), obtuse, brownish-green to green flushed with purple-brown, herbaceous, straight, upright, (3)4  – 6(7) cm long, (3.5)4  – 6(8) mm wide. Leaves petiolate;  petiole grass-green, stiff, rigid, erect to oblique, straight or slightly curved, (12)16 –24(26) cm  long (1.5)2–2.5(3) mm in diam., adaxially grooved; leaf blade arching to almost horizontal,  leathery, more or less flat, ovate to narrowly ovate, acuminate to attenuate and acute at apex,  slightly oblique at the base, (12)14  –18(22) cm long, (3.5)4  – 6(6.5) cm wide, straight or slightly  irregularly wavy along margin, light grass-green with many dull yellowish spots on both sides,  with prominent median and few rather weak secondary veins. Flowers 1–3(4), solitary, arising  from apical part of leafy shoot, pedunculate; peduncle horizontal to suberect, (2)2.2–2.6(3) cm  long, white, almost completely enveloped by 3 –  4(5) imbricate, sterile bracts; sterile bracts  pure white, ovate to broadly ovate, concave, obtuse, fleshy to papyraceous, (8)10 –18(20) mm  long, (5)6 – 8(10) mm wide (being flattened). Perigone tube cupulate with slightly bulging  upper part, entirely uniformly black or dark black-purple, fleshy, smooth and glossy, finely  longitudinally grooved, (1.8)2(2.2) cm long, (0.9)1–1.2(1.3) cm in diam., with 6 free lobes at  apex. Perigone lobes subequal, triangular, obtuse, (4)4.5 –5(6) mm long, (4)4.2–  4.6(4.8) mm  wide, shallowly 3-grooved, almost flat at the base, with involute margins in apical half, spreading  or reflexed. Stamens 6, sessile, placed in shallow hollows at the base of perianth tube; anthers  almost half globular, (1.8)2(2.2) mm in diam., dark brown; pollen sacs introrse. Pistil black,  the base white flushed with dirty purple; style fleshy, double conical, broadening to the base  and apex (6.5)7– 8(8.5) mm tall, 2–3(3.5) mm in diam.; stigma fleshy, rather smooth, peltate,  (8)8.5 –9.5(10) mm in diam., circular in outline, 6-undulate, with 6 triangular roundish lobes,  black. Ovary inconspicuous, very indistinct, white flushed with dirty purple.

Etymology

Species epithet refers to the almost entirely black colored flowers

Distribution

Northern Vietnam (Thanh Hoa province).

Endemic.

Habitat, phenology and conservation status

Terrestrial creeping perennial herb. Primary and secondary lowland broad-leaved evergreen forests often with bamboo (Dendrocalamus barbatus) on silicate rocks at elevation about 250 m a.s.l., commonly in shady, humid depressions on rich soil, usually associated with Pellionia radicans, Tectaria gemmifera and Xanthophytum balansae. Flowering in May–June.

Not common.

Estimated IUCN Red List status DD.