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Araceae
Arophyton tripartitum var. tripartitum
SUMMARY
Perennial herb; rhizome creeping (tuber in juvenile plants) brownish, 4-7 cm long, ca. 1.2 cm diameter; LEAVES: 1-3 (5) leaves appearing simultaneously with 1-3 inflorescences. Cataphylls 6-10 cm long, attenuating towards the top and tapered to a point, pale green to whitish, sometimes a little mottled, withering later. Petiole 8-28 x 0.4 cm, green and slightly tainted reddish-brown; leaf sheath 3-4 cm long. Leaf blade tripartite, medium green, a little paler underneath, segments elliptic, cuspidate to acuminate at the apex; middle segment 7-14 x 2.5-8.5 cm; the two lateral segments narrower, 6-14 x 1.5-3.5cm, sometimes with a small, acute, outer lobe present at the base; leaf blade hastate (juvenile leaves) to tripartite, sometimes pedate to 5 segments; leaf hastate with anterior lobe ovate, cuspidate at the apex, 5.5 x 5 cm, segments at the base ± well developed, sometimes almost horizontally spreading; ca. 4 x 1.5 cm; midrib particularly thick, the same as the medial ribs in the lateral lobes, all three inserted at a point at the base of the midrib; the middle segment has 2-5 primary lateral veins; inner collective veins have a distance of 0.5-1 cm to the edge, the outer collective veins 1-2 mm to the edge of the leaf, thinner. INFLORESCENCE: Peduncle, 10-20 x 0.4 cm, green, slightly tainted red. Spathe narrowly elliptic, acuminate, narrowing between the male and female zones of the spadix, 3.5-4.5 x 0.8-1.4 cm, rolled in the lower part, spreading in the upper half, the exterior pale yellowish, the interior pale green to yellowish in the upper part and dark purple in the lower part, surrounding the female zone of the spadix. Spadix absolutely free, only a little shorter that the spathe; spadix 3-4cm long, slightly conical at the base, ca. 0.6 cm diameter, thinner at the centre, ca. 0.3 cm diameter; male zone cylindrical to slightly claviform, 1-2 cm long and a.0.4 cm diameter; appendix 0.4-0.5 cm long, smooth, yellowish; sterile zone 0.6-1 cm long; female zone 0.5-0.8 cm long bearing 8-12 flowers; female flowers and sterile flowers sparse, arranged loosely; axis of the spadix visible as dark purple. Synandrium yellow, broadly elliptic to subrhombic, flat, and not sunken in the centre (occasionally the lower synandriums have a slit in the centre), 2-3 x 1.5-2 mm; synandriums becoming more sparse towards the appendix; 6-8 thecae inserted at the top of the synandrium, dehiscing via a large slit. Female flowers 1.7-2.2 mm long, ca. 2 mm diameter; pistil surrounded by cyathiform synandrium, dark purple at the base, angular on the side, orange to dark yellow; style and stigma exserted; ovary ellipsoid, pale green, ovule subsessile; style short and thick, pale green; stigma disc shaped, 0.5-0.8 mm diameter, purple, a little depressed at the centre and with fine, white papillae. Sterile flowers elliptic, 2-3.5 x 1-2 mm, having a slit in the centre, purple in the hollow, sides orange. Berries ellipsoid ca. 7 x 4.5 mm, red, with vestiges of stigma. INFRUCTESCENCE: Seeds ± globose. Chromosome number 2n-38