Schismatoglottis ahmadii A.Hay

Herb c.50 cm tall. Stem condensed, more or less hypogeal, hapaxanthic, 1–2 cm thick, clump-forming. Leaves few together; petiole 12–48 cm long, glabrous, sheathing in the lower ⅓–3⁄5; wings of sheath fully attached, tapering; blade rather tough, elliptic to ovato-sagittate, mid-green, sometimes variegated with a single greygreen central stripe or spattered grey-green throughout, (6–)10–29 cm long × 3.5–16 cm wide, the base obtuse to more or less truncate (usually) to somewhat cordate with posterior lobes spreading and up to 5 cm long, the tip acute to broadly acute and acuminate for 1.5 cm; midrib abaxially prominent; primary lateral veins adaxially somewhat impressed, abaxially prominent usually even when dry (and then usually straw-coloured), c. 10 on each side of the midrib, alternating with lesser interprimaries and diverging at c. 45–60°, occasionally giving off branches similar in thickness to the interprimary veins; secondary venation adaxially obscure, arising from the midrib and frequently from the lower parts of the primary veins; tertiary venation adaxially obscure, abaxially forming a rather distinct tessellate reticulum. Inflorescences 1–8 together, subtended by short cataphylls 2–8 cm long, these often but not always bearing reduced but well-differentiated petiole and blade; peduncle about half the length of the petiole at anthesis but inflorescences first exposed when peduncle very short and this elongating further in fruit; spathe 4–7 cm long; lower spathe green, narrowly ovoid, 1–2 cm long, differentiated from the limb by an abrupt constriction; limb white, broadly ovate, inflated over the appendix then abruptly acuminate for 1–1.5 cm, caducous. Spadix sessile, more or less hourglass-shaped, c. 3–4 cm long; female zone c. 2 cm long, adnate to the spathe for about ½ its length, c. 4 mm diam. In the middle, distally attenuate; pistils subglobose, somewhat lax in the lower part of the female zone, more so in the attenuate part, c. 1 mm diam.; stigma sessile, button-like, papillate, about ½ the diameter of the ovary; interpistillar staminodes scattered among the pistils, about equalling to slightly taller than the pistils, stalked with spreading flat tops c. 0.6 mm across; sterile interstice ill-defined, a partly naked distal portion of the female zone with scattered interpistillar staminodes and some ?abortive (small stigmas) ovaries; male zone obconic (occasionally widest slightly below the tip), c. 1 cm long, c. 3 mm thick at base, 6 mm thick at top; stamens crowded, dumbbellshaped with the connective very slightly elevated above the thecae, c. 1 mm across (fresh); appendix more or less hemispherical, to 3–7 mm long; staminodes of appendix columnar, irregularly polygonal with rounded angles, more or less flat-topped to somewhat rounded, whitish, very slightly taller than the stamens, c. 0.6 mm diam. Fruiting spathes ellipsoidal, to 4 cm long on erect peduncles.