Pycnospatha Thorel ex Gagnep.

HABIT : seasonally dormant herbs with subglobose tuber. LEAVES : 1-2. PETIOLE : smooth, rough or aculeate, mottled, sheath very short, inconspicuous. BLADE : trisect, anterior division trifid, segments simple to pinnatifid, posterior divisions bifid to pedatifid, segments simple to pinnatifid, ultimate lobes decurrent, ovate-elliptic to triangular, acute to acuminate; primary lateral veins pinnate, running into distinct marginal vein, higher order venation reticulate. INFLORESCENCE : solitary, appearing before or with leaf. PEDUNCLE : much shorter than petiole, similar in appearance and texture to petiole. SPATHE : margins not overlapping, strongly fornicate, thick, ± purple, marcescent. SPADIX : much shorter than spathe, conic to ovoid-conic, stipitate, fertile to apex, flowering sequence basipetal. FLOWERS : bisexual, perigone absent. STAMENS : ca. 6 or more per flower, crowded densely together with those of neighbouring flowers, filaments free, oblong, flattened, connective slender, thecae oblong-ellipsoid, dehiscing by apical, pore-like slit. POLLEN : monosulcate, ellipsoid to oblong, medium-sized (mean 34 µm.), exine subreticulate to rugulate. GYNOECIUM : elongated-flask-shaped, ovary 1-locular, ovule 1, anatropous to hemianatropous, funicle short, placenta basal to subparietal, style greatly elongated, straight or somewhat curved, projecting well beyond stamens, stigma small, scarcely or no broader than style. BERRY : globose, pericarp densely covered with conic prickles, with conspicuous, persistent style remnant, dark green. SEED : reniform, black or very dark brown, testa hard, thick, verrucose, containing white druses, embryo large, ellipsoid to slightly curved, endosperm very sparse, only a few cell layers thick.