Araceae
Arisaema balansae Engl.
SUMMARY
Perennial deciduous herb, to ca. 70 cm tall, without pseudostem or nearly so. Stem a subterranean rhizome, to 7 cm long, 3-4 cm diam., purple inside. Roots abundant, thick and white. Cataphylls 2-3, to 30 cm long, purple, pink-mottled. Petiole 50-60 cm long, dark green tinged purple. Leaves 1(-2), blade trifoliolate, leaflets dark green, glossy, chartaceous and petiolulate, apex acuminate with a 2 cm long arista, primary lateral veins ca. 9 pairs. Central leaflet upright when the leaf unfolds, elliptic-oblong, 20-25 cm long, 10-14 cm broad, petiolule 4-5 cm long. Lateral leaflets, 21-24 cm long, 10-12 cm broad, strongly unequilateral, outer lobe falcate to 7 cm broad, inner lobe to 5 cm broad, central vein curved toward the central leaflet, petiolule 1.2-2 cm long. Inflorescence appears when the leaf unfolds, held above the level of the leaf. Peduncle very long, 70- 80 cm long, slender, 4-5 mm diam., dark green flushed purple. Spathe-tube cylindrical, 7- 10 cm long, 1.5-2 cm diam., whitish green outside and inside, white at base, margin widely recurved, auricles to 5 cm long and 2 cm broad. Spathe-limb longer than the tube, erect, deltoid, 10-15 cm long, 4-7 cm wide, green, darker than the tube fading pink. Spathe-tip acuminate, ending in a 1-3.5 cm tail. Spadix-appendix long-exserted from the tube, erect, green, subulate, 9-10 cm long, base ca. 5 mm wide, covered with a few 0.5-1 cm long purple sterile flowers; upper part slightly bending forward, and covered with numerous pale green l.5-3 cm long filiform neuters; lower part sessile. Fertile zone either male or bisexual, male part 2.5-5 cm long, female part cylindrical, 3 cm long and ca. 1 cm diam. Male flowers loosely arranged, the lowest borne on a short purple stalk, the highest subsessile, with 2-4 fused yellowish anther cells per staminate flower, thecae dehiscent by a roundish terminal pore with short purple connectives. Female flowers densely arranged, ovary green, truncate at base, flat at apex, topped by a penicillate cream subsessile stigma.