Schismatoglottis silamensis A.Hay

Small herb c. 15–20 cm tall. Stem condensed, more or less epigeal, hapaxanthic, tightly but weakly clump-forming, c. 1 cm diam. Leaves c. 4 together; petiole 5–8 cm long, sheathing in the lower 2⁄5–⅔; wings of sheath almost fully attached, broad, more or less parallel to petiole, the apex truncate or forming a short bifid rounded ligular portion c. 4 mm long; blade oblong-ovate to narrowly ovate, coriaceous, adaxially mid-green variegated with irregular blotches in three shades of green, abaxially paler, 11–15 cm long × 4.5–6.5 cm wide, the base very shallowly cordate to cordate with rounded posterior lobes to 2 cm long, the apex acute and shortly acuminate for c. 1.5 cm; midrib

abaxially prominent near the base, with c. 6 primary lateral veins on each side, alternating with fine interprimaries and diverging at 45–60°; secondary veins arising from the midrib and a few from near the bases of the primary veins; tertiary venation more or less obscure. Inflorescence solitary or 2 together; peduncle short, concealed within subtending leaf bases and cataphyll. Spathe 5–6.5 cm long; lower spathe narrowly ovoid, c. 2.5 cm long, differentiated from the limb by a constriction; limb oblong-lanceolate, somewhat inflated over the appendix, then acute, caducous. Spadix 4.7 cm long, sessile, more or less hourglass-shaped; female zone c. 2.2 cm long, more or less spindle-shaped, adnate to the spathe in the lower c. 3⁄5, c. 6 mm diam. In the middle, distally slightly conoid and 4 mm diam. at the top; pistils depressed subglobose, strongly longitudinally c. 4-lobed, rather lax, c. 1 mm diam.; stigma sessile, button-like, papillate, c. 0.5 mm diam.; interpistillar staminodes very numerous, outnumbering and filling the spaces between the pistils at least in the lower c. ⅔ of the female zone, clavate-prismatic, flat-topped, shorter than the pistils, more or less absent from the upper, attenuate part of the female zone; sterile interstice c. 5 mm long × 4 mm diam., composed in the lower part of 2–3 lax irregular whorls of abortive pistils (reduced or absent stigmas) and above of 2–3 irregular whorls of sterile anthers; male zone obconic, the basalmost part within the lower spathe chamber, c. 8 mm long, the base isodiametric with the interstice, the apex c. 7 mm diam.; stamens crowded, truncate, dumbbell-shaped with the connective equalling the rims of the thecae in

height; rims of thecae deeply cleft at each end of the anther, c. 0.75 mm across; appendix 1.3–1.5 cm long, basally slightly and abruptly wider than the top of the male zone (fresh — not apparent dry), clavate, the tip very broadly obtuse to obtuse; staminodes of the appendix flat-topped, irregularly polygonal (post-anthesis with somewhat concave sides and tending to clump in groups of c. 4), c. 0.75 mm across. Fruit unknown.