Amorphophallus curvistylis

In the Chao Phraya lowland moist deciduous forests ecoregion very little of the original forest cover remains, and most of what is left has been selectively logged and degraded by fire (but large areas are now protected). New roads and the spread of industry and new housing from Bangkok, including proposed new towns and a new Bangkok International Airport, will place pressure on remaining land, especially through land speculation. Poor villagers continue to produce charcoal from forest trees in degraded forest areas, leading to further degradation of forest cover. The majority of Amorphophallus species seem to be pioneers in disturbed vegetations. Many are found at forest margins, in open savannah forests, on (steep) slopes, in disturbed parts of primary forest, and sometimes in very exposed parts in limestone karst areas. This suggests that A. curvistylis may not be severely threatened by the habitat conversion highlighted above.

Amorphophallus titanum tubers are heavily collected (Hetterscheid and Ittenbach 1996), and A. curvistylis may also be harvested in Thailand, due to it being considered a very decorative ornamental. The potential disappearance of the species' pollinator and distributor may be of some concern, with birds such as the giant Hornbills being vulnerable in the face of trophy hunting and habitat destruction.

This species has been collected from the Thong Pha Phum National Park, and the entire region along the Burmese border is very well-protected, with over 15 national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

No seed of this species is currently stored in the Millennium Seed Bank, UK. The species is cultivated, however, in several botanical institutes, including the Leiden Botanical Garden, the Netherlands. Hetterscheid and Ittenbach (1996) emphasise that a positive role of botanical gardens in the conservation of plant species in general can only be reached when their infrastructure allows for the establishment of an artificial population of a species, covering as large a portion as possible of it's genomic diversity. If not, the value of such a collection is limited in terms of conservation. In the case of A. titanum, for example, genomic diversity seems quite limited. Throughout its range the species is astoundingly homogeneous in morphology, both in vegetative and generative parts. This may mirror a rather strongly constrained genome and could therefore lead to a successful conservation by establishing populations in botanical gardens. Artificial fertilization is easy and this may continue the diversity in such circumstances.