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Araceae
Stylochaeton hypogaeus Lepr.
SUMMARY
Rhizome horizontal, about 1/2 in. thick, fleshy, with thick fleshy simple roots. LEAVES 5-8 to a plant, contemporary with the flowers; petiole 3-6 in. long, yellowish-green spotted with purplish-violet, the sheathing part subterranean; blade hastate or hastate-sagittate, as long as the petiole; front lobe oblong-lanceolate, acuminate; basal lobes somewhat spreading, oblong acute, about 1/3 as long as the first lobe. INFLORESCENCE: Spathe very shortly pedunculate, arising from the rootstock by the side of the leaves, 2 in. long; tube subterranean, cylindric, slightly inflated at the base; limb ovoid, acute, with a narrow mouth on one side. Spadix shortly protruding from the mouth of the spathe. Female flowers 6-9 or more (in one cycle?), adnate to the base of the spadix, connate. Perianth adnate to the apex of the ovary (?), with a short free oblique urceolate limb. Ovary inferior (?); style moderately slender, much exserted, erect, "articulated" (thickened) below the middle. Fruit subterranean, consisting of the connate ovaries, fleshy, included in the dilated base of the spathe.