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Araceae
Rhaphidophora geniculata Engl.
SUMMARY
Rather small, slender, semi-pachycaul homeophyllous liane to 3 m; seedling stage and pre-adult plants not observed; LEAVES: adult shoot architecture comprised of elongated, clinging, physiognomically unbranched, leafy, sterile stems and very short, adherent (always?) flowering stems arising from the axils of the leaves; stems smooth, terete in cross-section, drying deeply longitudinally sulcate; with very sparse to copious netted prophyll, cataphyll and petiolar sheath fibre, internodes 1-4 x 0.5-1.2 cm, separated by large, oblique, slightly corky leaf scars; flagellate foraging stems absent; clasping roots arising from the nodes and internodes, pubescent; feeding roots not observed; leaves distichous; cataphylls and prophylls membranous, quickly drying and degrading into netted fibres, these later falling; petiole shallowly grooved, 1.4-27 x 0.2-0.7 cm, apical geniculum long but not especially prominent, basal geniculum barely visible to rather large (dependent on age), moderately prominent; petiolar sheath extending to just below the apical geniculum degrading into semi-persistent netted fibres, eventually falling; lamina entire, oblanceolate or oblong-elliptic, slightly to markedly oblique, oblique, 1.8-35 x 3-7 cm, thinly coriaceous to weakly chartaceous, usually drying conspicuously discolorous, adaxially dark olive-brown, abaxially pale olive-green to reddish brown, base decurrent, apex acute, falcate-acute, acuminate or rounded-acuminate; midrib prominently raised and usually darker abaxially, ± flush adaxially; primary venation arching-pinnate, slightly raised abaxially, almost flush adaxially; interprimaries sub-parallel to primaries, slightly to much less prominent, slightly raised; secondary venation weakly reticulate, slightly raised; tertiary venation reticulate-striate, barely visible; INFLORESCENCE solitary, terminating a short shoot arising in the axils of leaves, occasionally arising from axils of fallen leaves, and usually inflorescences arising from several adjacent leaves, and thus sections of stems carrying several inflorescences in diffuse clusters, each inflorescence subtended by a prophyll and several degraded, netted cataphylls; peduncle strongly compressed-terete, 5-9 x 0.3-0.6 cm; spathe ovoid-ellipsoid, base decurrent and oblique, apex rounded, slender-acuminate, 3.5-6.5 x 1.5-2.5 cm, white, marcescent falling at fruit maturation leaving a large oblique scar; spadix ovoid-ellipsoid, stipitate, inserted obliquely on stipe, 2.5-3.5 x 1.3-1.7 cm; stipe 2-8 x 1-2 mm; stylar region mostly hexagonal, 1.5-2 x 2.1-2 mm, prominently conical; stigma punctiform on a long (c. 2 mm) stipe, c. 0.2-0.35 diam.; anthers not exserted at male anthesis. INFRUCTESCENCE stout ellipsoid-cylindrical, c. 4 x 2 cm.