Araceae
Scaphispatha Brongn. ex Schott
SUMMARY
HABIT : seasonally dormant herbs, tuber globose to depressed-globose. LEAVES : usually solitary, sometimes 2. PETIOLE : slender, sheath very short. BLADE : ovate-subcordate to ovate-sagittate, peltate, apex cuspidate-acuminate; basal ribs well-developed, primary lateral veins pinnate, forming submarginal collective vein, 1-2 marginal veins also present, higher order venation reticulate. INFLORESCENCE : solitary, appearing well before leaf. PEDUNCLE : very long, slender. SPATHE : decurrent on peduncle, slightly constricted between tube and blade, light green without, white within, tube convolute before and after anthesis, gaping at anthesis, persistent to fruiting stage, blade fully expanded at anthesis, at first erect, later reflexed, marcescent after anthesis. SPADIX : cylindric, hardly constricted, shorter than spathe, fertile to apex, densely flowered, male and female zones contiguous. FLOWERS : unisexual, perigone absent. MALE FLOWER : 4-androus, stamens connate into truncate, deeply lobed synandrium, connective not greatly thickened, thecae lateral on upper part of synandrium, dehiscing apically by broad, pore-like slit. POLLEN : inaperturate, spherical to subspheroidal, medium-sized (mean 45 µm.) exine coarsely verrucate with large polygonal flat-topped verrucae. FEMALE FLOWER : ovary ovoid, 1-locular, ovules 3-5, anatropous, funicle short, placenta basal, style distinct, attenuate, much narrower than ovary, stigma small, discoid-subcapitate, only slightly broader than style. BERRY : subglobose to obovoid, always 1-seeded, stigma remnants persistent, fruiting very rapidly (ca.10 days after anthesis), whitish-grey. SEED : subglobose, testa smooth and thin, greyish to brown, covered with minute brownish spots, raphe pronounced, swollen, embryo elongate, straight, endosperm copious.