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Araceae
Piptospatha truncata (M.Hotta) Bogner & A.Hay
SUMMARY
Herb 10-13 cm tall. Stem short, c. 1 cm long, 0.3-0.5 cm diam., ascending. Leaves to 9 together; petiole shorter to longer than the blade, 3-7 cm long, adaxially canaliculate with crispate margins, sheathing at the extreme base, the wings extended into a lanceolate ligular portion 2-3.5 cm long; blade dark green above, paler below, coriaceous, oblong-elliptic to oblanceolate, the apex acute or rounded and apiculate for 1-2 mm, the base attenuate to cuneate, the margin very minutely undulate and slightly revolute, 4-7 cm long, 1.5-2.3 cm wide; midrib abaxially and adaxially prominent, with 3-5 adaxially rather obscure primary lateral veins on each side diverging at 35-45° then running towards the tip; secondary venation adaxially obscure, abaxially fine and dense; tertiary venation obscure. Inflorescence solitary; peduncle 5-11 cm long, 9-13 cm long in fruit. Spathe 1.7-2.8 cm long, the lower part convolute and persistent, the upper part gaping and caducous. Spadix 1-1.7 cm long, weakly clavate; female zone 2-4 mm long, c. 2 mm diam.; ovary depressed globular, 0.9 mm diam., with basal placentation; stigma sessile, discoid, centrally impressed, narrower than the ovary, c. 0.5 mm diam.; interpistillar staminodes absent from among the pistils, one or two or an irregular whorl at the base of the female zone, sessile, truncate, slightly narrower and lower than the pistils; male zone 6-10 mm long, somewhat ellipsoid, 2.5 mm diam., at the base with a few sterile stamens, with the apical 1.5 mm slightly narrowed, rounded and bearing sterile stamens; stamens crowded, truncate, glabrous, arranged more or less in longitudinally aligned pairs, rectangular-elliptic from above, c. 1.3 mm across, with thecae opening through single apical pores. Fruiting spathe funnel-shaped, c. 1 cm diam., containing a cluster of berries; berry depressed globular, 1.3-1.5 mm diam., crowned with the persistent stigma; seed 1-1.2 mm long, c. 0.5 mm diam., slightly curved, dark brown, rough, barely ribbed, with a long curved and transparent micropylar appendage c. 1 mm long.