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Araceae
Rhaphidophora neoguineensis Engl.
SUMMARY
Slender, leptocaul, homeophyllous liane to 5 m; seedling not observed; pre-adult plants forming small terrestrial colonies; LEAVES: adult shoot architecture comprised of elongated, clinging, physiognomically unbranched, leafy, non-flowering stems and very short to somewhat lengthened mostly unbranched, free, sympodial, leafy, flowering stems; stems smooth, flexuous, climbing stems ± terete, occasionally weakly sulcate on two opposing sides, free stems terete, to similarly sulcate, without prophyll, cataphyll and petiolar sheath fibre, internodes 1-9 x 0.2-0.6 cm on clinging and free shoots, flowering shoots with shorter internodes, separated by weak straight leaf scars, occasionally disarticulating into 2-4 internode lengths and these later rooting and forming independent plants, older stems woody; flagellate foraging stems frequent, terete in cross-section with reduced leaves basally, terminal portion with caducous cataphylls; clasping roots arising sparsely from the clinging stems, very slightly pubescent; feeding roots solitary from nodes, clinging to climbing surface; leaves weakly spiro-distichous, moderately densely arranged; cataphylls and prophylls membranous, caducous; petiole grooved adaxially, 3-12 x 0.1-0.2 cm, smooth, with a slight apical and basal geniculum, although older leaves often with genicula enlarged and cracking-corky; petiolar sheath slightly prominent, extending beyond the apical geniculum by two ligules, caducous leaving a continuous scar from the petiole base, around the top of the apical geniculum and back to the base; lamina entire, elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate or oblanceolate, 6-25 x 2-9 cm, thinly coriaceous to submembranous, base cuneate to acute or subovate, apex acute to weakly acuminate, with a minute tubule; midrib raised abaxially, slightly sunken adaxially in fresh material, slightly sunken abaxially and adaxially in dry material; primary venation pinnate, slightly raised on both surfaces in dried material; interprimaries reticulate to sub-parallel to, but much less distinctive than, primaries, degrading into weakly reticulate venation, very slightly raised abaxially; secondary and tertiary venation reticulate; INFLORESCENCE solitary, subtended by a fully developed foliage leaf and a caducous cataphyll; peduncle slightly compressed-terete, 1.3-2.5 x 0.15-0.3 cm; spathe globose to ovoid-ellipsoid, truncate basally at insertion on petiole, apex briefly beaked, 1-2 x 1-2.5 cm, thick fleshy, dark yellow, marcescent, drying brown, later pushed off by developing infructescence leaving a large scar; spadix globose to ellipsoid-cylindrical, sessile, inserted level on peduncle, 1-1.5 x 0.7-1 cm, obtuse, yellow-white; stylar region rounded-rhombohexagonal, 0.9-1.5 x 0.85-1.2 mm, truncate; stigma punctiform to very slightly elliptic, c. 0.45 x 0.3 mm diam., prominent in dried material; anthers well-exserted at male anthesis; INFRUCTESCENCE not observed.