You are here
Araceae
Schismatoglottis nicolsonii A.Hay
SUMMARY
Herb to c. 30 cm tall. Stem condensed, more or less creeping, c. 1.2 cm diam., pleionanthic. Leaves c. 7 together; petiole 18–26 cm long, sheathing only at the extreme base with the wings extended into a bicarinate narrowly lanceolate ligular portion to c. 10 cm long drying red-brown; blade broadly lanceolate to narrowly ovate, c. 15–25 cm long × 4–9 cm wide, dull dark green adaxially, the abaxial side drying brown, the base acute, the tip acute then acuminate for 2 cm and with a cylindric mucro to 2 cm long; midrib adaxially grooved and abaxially very prominent (dry) with 14–16 primary lateral veins on each side alternating with fine interprimaries and diverging at c. 60°; secondary venation fine and very dense, adaxially obscure, mostly arising from the midrib; tertiary venation obscure. Inflorescences 1 or 2 together; peduncle less than half the length of the petioles, 5–9 cm long, subtended by cataphylls resembling the ligular sheath extensions. Spathe reddish, 5.5–7.5 cm long; lower spathe 1.5–2 cm long, differentiated from the limb by a weak constriction; limb 4–5.5 cm long, oblonglanceolate, apiculate for 5 mm, ?caducous. Spadix sessile, 3.5–5.5 cm long, subcylindric; female zone 1.5–1.7 cm long, adnate to the spathe in the lower ⅔, somewhat conic in the free part, apically 2 mm diam. (dry); pistils crowded; ovary more or less globose, c. 0.4 mm diam.; stigma sessile, button-like, c. 0.25 mm diam.; interpistillar staminodes confined to a basal row along the spathe/spadix adnation, shortly stalked, clavate, round-topped (slightly laterally flattened), c. 0.5 mm wide; sterile interstice absent; male zone cylindric, basally slightly thicker than the top of the female zone, c. 3 mm diam.; stamens crowded, small, c. 0.3 mm across, truncate, dumbbell-shaped, with the connective slightly exceeded by the thecae; thecae each with two separate minute apical pores with thick rims; appendix basally isodiametric with top of the male zone, in the distal half tapering to an acute point; staminodes of appendix flat-topped, irregularly polygonal, small, c. 0.3 mm diam. Fruit unknown.