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Araceae
Schismatoglottis pectinervia A.Hay
SUMMARY
Herb to 35 cm tall. Stem condensed, more or less hypogeal, hapaxanthic, c. 1 cm diam. Leaves 2–4 together; petiole 15–21 cm long, sheathing in the lower ¼–⅓; wings of sheath tapering, fully attached to petiole; blade broadly oblanceolate, semi-glossy mid- to dark green adaxially, paler abaxially, c. 30 cm long × 7 cm wide at widest point, the base cuneate to decurrent, the tip acute and acuminate for 1.5 cm; midrib abaxially very prominent; primary lateral veins not prominent, numerous, c. 20 on each side of the midrib, alternating with lesser interprimaries, diverging at 80–90° and more or less gradually and evenly curving up to meet the margin; secondary venation arising from the midrib; tertiary venation rather indistinct. Inflorescence ?solitary, subtended by several lanceolate strongly keeled cataphylls to 5 cm long; peduncle short, concealed by leaf bases and cataphylls. Spathe 4.5 cm long, subcylindric; lower spathe pale green, c. 1.5 cm long, differentiated from the limb by a very weak constriction; limb 3 cm long, oblong-lanceolate, creamy white, ?caducous. Spadix subequalling the spathe, sessile; female zone 1.2 cm long, conoid, obliquely inserted; pistils crowded at base of zone, distally increasingly lax, more or less subglobose, strongly longitudinally 4-lobed, c. 0.7 mm diam.; stigma elevated on a very short style, button-like, about ¼ the diameter of the ovary; interpistillar staminodes restricted to base of female zone, absent from among the pistils, more or less mushroom-shaped, about as wide as the ovary; sterile interstice very attenuate, c. 1 cm long (upper and lower limits somewhat indeterminate owing to lax arrangement of and intergradation between abortive and fertile elements), mostly naked, in the lower half with scattered longitudinally (with respect to spadix) stretched partly abortive pistils and in the upper half with scattered partly abortive anthers; male zone 8 mm long, obconic in the lower part, the rest cylindric, c. 3 mm diam.; stamens crowded (except at base of zone), thickly hourglass shaped, c. 0.8 mm across, the connective slender and very slightly raised between the large (0.2 mm diam.) impressed pores; appendix subcylindric, apically tapering to a blunt point, the base isodiametric with male zone, 1.2 cm long; staminodes of appendix more or less flat-topped, irregularly polygonal, c. 0.7 mm diam. Infructescence unknown.