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Araceae
Schismatoglottis puberulipes Alderw.
SUMMARY
Small herb to c. 15 cm tall. Stem condensed, epigeal, slender, c. 2 cm long, 3 mm diam., pleionanthic. Leaves several together (to c. 6); petiole 5-14 cm long, slender, stiff, densely and minutely puberulent with short straight colourless hairs, sheathing in the lower ?-2/5 (sometimes sheathing for the entire length in the leaf below an inflorescence); wings of sheath almost fully attached except for a blunt apical free portion c. 5 mm long, membranous, spreading, sometimes somewhat crisped, abaxially puberulent; blade variable in shape, broadly ovate to oblong-lanceolate, 8-14 cm long × 3.2-5.5 cm wide, very dark green adaxially, paler abaxially, sometimes distinctly bullate, the base slightly but distinctly cordate with rounded posterior lobes 1-2 cm long and overlapping each other or nearly so, the tip acute to obtuse, not acuminate; midrib abaxially prominent and pubescent like the petiole; primary lateral veins 11-16 on each side of the midrib, alternating with lesser interprimaries, diverging at 70-90(-100)° (always some c. 90°) at first, then rather sharply acropetally deflected before reaching the margin, adaxially somewhat prominent near the midrib, abaxially puberulent near the midrib; secondary venation arising from both the midrib and the bases of the primary veins; tertiary venation forming a fine tessellate reticulum abaxially. Inflorescence solitary, subtended by a cataphyll usually with reduced but well-differentiated petiole and blade; peduncle very short, hidden within the leaf bases. Spathe c. 4 cm long; lower spathe greenish, ovoid, c. 1.5 cm long, differentiated from the limb by a distinct constriction; limb dirty white, broadly ovate, inflated over the appendix of the spadix, the tip apiculate, crumbling-deciduous somewhat above the constriction to about level with the top of the male zone. Spadix c. 2.8 cm long, stipitate for c. 1 mm; female zone subcylindric, slightly conic; pistils crowded, subglobose, c. 1 mm diam.; stigma subsessile, button-like, papillate, about half the diameter of the ovary; interpistillar staminodes tongue-shaped, c. 1 mm wide, yellowish, confined to a single row around the base of the female zone; sterile interstice c. 4 mm long, about isodiametric with top of female zone (fresh), slightly thicker than top of female zone (dry), somewhat attenuate at junction with male zone, composed of irregularly polygonal more or less flat-topped staminodes c. 1 mm diam. (smaller distally and some thin L-shaped ?abortive staminodes sometimes present); male zone obconoid, c. 1 cm long, basally c. 2 mm diam., apically c. 4 mm diam.; stamens crowded, c. 0.5 mm diam., more or less dumbbell-shaped, truncate with broad elevated rims around the pores; appendix rather broadly ellipsoid, widest slightly above junction with male zone, c. 8 mm long × 4 mm wide, composed of irregularly polygonal more or less flat-topped staminodes c. 0.7 mm diam. Fruiting spathe broadly urceolate, c. 1.5 cm diam.