Schismatoglottis scortechinii Hook.f.

Stem epigeal, pleionanthic, erect to decumbent or creeping, to c. 20 cm long, 1–2 cm thick, internodes 0.5–1 cm long, not freely rooting except when in contact with soil, renewal growth sometimes delayed by protracted inflorescence production. Leaves 1–5 per module; petiole 10–30 cm long, 5–7 mm thick with the margins narrowly but distinctly alate and the wing crisped (rarely hardly alate), rough and longitudinally slightly ridged, dull mid-green, sheathing in the lower ⅓; wings of sheath persistent, membranous, the wing to c. 0.7 cm wide, spreading to slightly inrolled, fully attached except for the apex asymmetrically and bluntly ligular for c. 0.7 cm, rarely the sheath tapering and fully attached throughout its length; blade c. 15–30 cm long × 5–10 cm wide, elliptic to oblong to ovate, widest at around the mid-point, grey-green to yellowgreen to mid-green, not glossy, variegated spattered, bivittate or vittate in shades of grey-green or yellow-green, the base acute to obtuse to weakly cordate; posterior lobes, if present, to c. 1.2 cm long; midrib abaxially prominent, with c. 10–15 abaxially prominent primary lateral veins on each side, diverging at 45–90° with strongly acroscopic to flattened wide courses, 1–2 cm apart; interprimary veins present; secondary venation flush adaxially and abaxially, originating on the midrib and lower parts of the primary veins; tertiary venation inconspicuous. Inflorescences 1–8 together, with a strong sweet esteric odour at anthesis, turning dark brown in spirit; peduncle c. 5 cm long, c. 4 mm thick but thickening distally into the spathe base, erect at anthesis, then deflected. Spathe 6–10 cm long; lower spathe narrowly ovoid to rhomboid in outline, 2–3.5 cm long, 1–1.5 cm wide, green; limb separated from lower spathe by an abrupt constriction, membranous, pale grey-green at first, broadly oblong with the tip mucronate, opening cowl-like, sometimes more so at the base than the apex, revealing the whole appendix and the distal part of the male zone, then deciduous, turning dirty dark grey and dying as it falls. Spadix 5.5–9.9 cm long; female zone 1.5–2 cm long, more or less conic, c. 1 cm thick, obliquely inserted; pistils c. 1.5 mm high, c. 1 mm diam., pale green, stigmas sessile, very flat and contiguous, somewhat impressed centrally; interpistillar staminodes (absent from among the pistils to) few to frequent, scattered, slightly taller than the pistils, the tops button-like, irregularly rounded-polygonal, white, c. 0.5 mm diam.; sterile interstice torus-shaped, slightly thicker than both female and male zones, about 3–4 mm long, composed of two types of staminodes either of which may predominate or they are equally represented — proximally a crowd of structures more or less identical with the interpistillar staminodes, distally a crowd (or ring) of structures more or less identical with the staminodes of the appendix (see below); male zone 0.6–1 cm long, 4–6 mm thick, cylindric, ivory, narrower than the female zone and markedly narrower than the lower part of the appendix, corresponding with the constriction of the spathe; male flowers (1–)2–3-staminate, the anthers trapezoid to triangular from above, terminal on slablike filaments, opening by apical pores; pollen white, extruded in very fine filaments; appendix very large, 3–6 cm long, 0.8–1 cm thick, subcylindric, tapering, rather blunttipped; staminodes columnar, flat-topped, sometimes centrally impressed, in groups of 2–5, c. 1 mm diam., yellowish ivory to pale orange. Fruiting spathe declinate, urceolate, dehiscing from the base; fruits greyish.