Rhaphidophora megasperma Engl.

Moderate-sized, slender to slightly robust semi-leptocaul homeophyllous creeping and climbing liane to 5 m; seedling stage a stout eocaul with rather numerous leaves; pre-adult plants forming extensive terrestrial colonies; adult shoot architecture comprised of greatly elongated, clinging, physiognomically unbranched, sparsely leafy, non-flowering stems and much abbreviated, little-branched, free, densely leafy, flowering stems; stems smooth, terete in cross-section, internodes to 10 × 1.7 cm on clinging shoots, much shorter on free shoots, separated by slightly oblique leaf scars, older stems subwoody; flagellate foraging stems absent; clasping roots sparsely arising from the nodes and internodes of clinging stems, pubescent; feeding roots rare, clinging, pubescent; leaves spiro-distichous on clinging shoots, distichous on free shoots; cataphylls and prophylls membranous, soon drying chartaceous and persisting at the tips of flowering shoots, the falling; petiole grooved canaliculate, 11-29 × 0.2-0.4 cm, apical and basal pulvinus moderately prominent; petiolar sheath wide and membranous but very soon falling and thus usually not prominent, extending almost to or reaching apical pulvinus, very soon drying and degrading into very sparse, soon-falling fibres; lamina entire to slightly perforated, perforations round to rhombic, extending c. 1/4-1/2  of lamina width on each side of the midrib, oblong-lanceolate or oblong-elliptic, oblique, 12.5-42 × 3-10.5 cm, rather bright medium green, semi-glossy adaxially, paler and similarly glossy abaxially, thinly coriaceous, base unequal, rounded, weakly acute to subrounded, apex acuminate; midrib prominently raised abaxially, more or less sunken adaxially; primary venation pinnate, slightly raised abaxially and adaxially; interprimaries subparallel to primaries, much less prominent, slightly raised abaxially and adaxially, often markedly curving around the lamina perforations; secondary venation prominently reticulate, raised abaxially, less so adaxially; inflorescence two, three or more, together, carried on a much-abbreviated, long-persistent lateral branch, each inflorescence subtended by a prominent chartaceous persistent prophyll, and one or more chartaceous cataphylls; peduncle slender to somewhat stout, terete, 4-1 × 0.2-0.3 cm; spathe broadly canoe-shaped, stout-beaked, 4-6 × 2-3.5 cm, stiff-fleshy, gaping slightly at female anthesis and emitting a weakly fruity smell, medium to dull yellow on opening, at male anthesis opening wide, thence closing post anthesis, persistent, and later marcescent into early fruiting, eventually falling to leave a prominent scar; spadix stoutly to somewhat slender cylindrical, sessile, inserted obliquely on peduncle, 2.5-4 × 0.5-0.7 cm, dull cream; stylar region mostly hexagonal, 1.1-1.2 × 1-1.1 mm; stigma punctiform, very prominent, 0.1-0.2 × c. 0.3 mm; anthers exserted at male anthesis; infructescence stoutly oblong-cylindrical, 3.5-5 × 1.2-1.5 cm, dark green becoming paler and later yellow green, eventually orange prior to the stylar plates sloughing; seeds ellipsoid, smooth, 1.5 × 1 mm, pale brown.