Remusatia vivipara (Araceae)
Tuber globose, flattened, 2-3 cm in diameter and 1.5-2 cm thick. Cataphylls 8-15 cm long; stem erect, brown-reddish 15-25 x 5mm, bearing bulbils on the upper half; LEAVES: 1 (-3) leaves; petiole cylindric, 20-50 cm long. Bulbils 6-9 x 3-4 mm. Leaf blade peltate, ovate (insertion of petiole in the lower 1/3) cordate at the base, cuspidate at the apex, 20-40 x 13-25 cm, dark green on the top; primary veins and the midrib very pale, sometimes slightly green-brownish at the start of the veins; 4-7 primary lateral veins each side, forming an angle of 45º with the midrib; posterior lobes up to half the length of the anterior lobes, joined for ca. 3/4 of their length; Sinus rounded at the base. INFLORESCENCE: Peduncle 10-15 cm long. Spathe 9.5-13.5 cm long; exterior of tube green, much paler inside, 3.5-4.5 x 1 cm diameter; blade yellow, 6-9 cm long, upper 1/3 the same width, with a point 3-5 mm long; spathe limb reflects during anthesis. Female zone of spadix ca. 2 cm long; fertile male zone elliptic, 1.5 cm long, a little shorter, but thicker than, the sterile zone; spadix without appendix. Synandrodium clavate, with 2-3 stamens; thecae elongate, dehiscing via an apical pore. Synandrodium flattened. Ovary obovoid, 1 or 2-4 incomplete locules; ovules numerous, hemiorthotropous; placentation parietal; stigma sessile, discoid. INFRUCTESCENCE: Berries obovoid, globose, enclosed by the spathe; seeds numerous, elliptic. Chromosomes 2n=56
Flattened tuber, with one or many leaves; stem with leaves, carrying bulbils; spadix with an appendix; inflorescences appearing with the leaves; terrestrial or epiphytes.
Growing in the humic soil in forests, found in collections of humus on limestone. (Ankarana massif) or gneiss or as an epiphyte, sometimes among Asplenium nidus and or Orchids. The bulbils cling with their bracts hooked in the fur or in the plumage of the animals which ensure in this way dispersal of the species.
The tubers are poisonous. They are used externally to treat mastitis, traumatic injuries, abscesses, and swellings.
This material was reprinted with permission from the Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, and Science Press, Beijing.