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Araceae
Rhaphidophora angustata Schott
SUMMARY
Large, occasionally enormous, robust, semi-leptocaul, homeophyllous liane to 20 m; seedling stage leafy at germination and skototropic by alternating series of congested leafy and elongated leafless shoots; pre-adult plants almost never forming terrestrial colonies; adult shoot architecture comprised of greatly elongated, clinging, physiognomically monopodial, sparsely leafy, non-flowering stems and short, free, sympodial, densely leafy, potentially flowering stems; stems smooth, bright green, without prophyll, cataphyll and petiolar sheath fibre, internodes to 20 x 3.5 cm on adherent shoots, considerably shorter on free shoots, separated by prominent oblique leaf scars, older stems sub-woody; flagellate foraging stems exceedingly long with internodes to 50 cm or more and nodes with semi-persistent cataphylls; clasping roots densely arising from the nodes and internodes of clinging stems, prominently pubescent; feeding roots rare, adherent, pubescent; LEAVES weakly spiralled on adherent and flagelliform shoots, those on free shoots distichous into dense few to many-leaved fans; cataphylls and prophylls sub-coriaceous, soon drying and falling; petiole deeply canaliculate, 8-24 x 1.2-2.5 cm, smooth, apical and basal genicula prominent; petiolar sheath prominent, extending to or occasionally, by means of a terminal brief ligule, overtopping the apical geniculum, ± long persistent and drying chartaceous; lamina entire, falcate-lanceolate to falcate-oblong, oblique, 15-61 x 4-20 cm, sub-chartaceous, base acute to unequal, apex acute to slightly acuminate; mid-rib prominently raised abaxially, slightly sunken adaxially; primary venation pinnate, slightly raised abaxially, somewhat impressed adaxially, the leaf appearing slightly quilted; interprimaries sub-parallel to primaries, slightly raised abaxially, slightly impressed adaxially; secondary venation weakly reticulate, slightly raised; tertiary venation invisible; INFLORESCENCE solitary from the centre of the fanned leaves of a free shoot, subtended by a fully developed foliage leaf; peduncle terete, 11-13 x 1-1.2 cm; spathe narrowly canoe-shaped, stoutly beaked, 16-29 x 2-3.5 cm, stiffly fleshy, greenish to white, gaping basally at anthesis and then persistent partly into fruit development although eventually falling to leave a large oblique scar at the base of the spadix; spadix cylindrical, sessile, obliquely inserted on peduncle, 12-23 x 1.5--2 cm, dirty white; stylar region rather well developed, mostly rhombohexagonal, 2-2.2 x 2 mm, truncate; stigma punctiform, c.c. 0.3 mm diam., but ovaries on lowermost part of spadix with longitudinally orientated elongated stigmas c.c. 1 x 0.25 mm; anthers not exserted at anthesis, pollen extruded from between ovaries; INFRUCTESCENCE 14-20 x 2.5-3.5 cm, dark green before ripening.