Araceae
Typhonium praetermissum A.Hay
SUMMARY
Deciduous geophyte. Corm pale brown, compressed subglobose, c.2.5cm diam. Leaves (1-)2-3 together; petiole c.5.5cm long, sheathing and subterranean in the lower 4.5cm; free portion of petiole deeply channelled, c.lmm diam., more or less appressed to soil surface; blade held more or less fiat to ground, glaucous blue-green, somewhat coriaceous, (elliptic to) ovate to very broadly ovate with the base somewhat cordate, to pedatifid with 5 sessile segments, with the posteriormost pair often overlapping (but see note below), to c.4.5cm long, c.3cm wide (when simple) to c.5.5cm wide (when pedatifid); blade tip, or tip of anterior lobe, acute to obtuse and minutely apiculate, the margin crispate or not; midrib or anterior costa prominent abaxially, impressed adaxially; primary lateral veins 2-3 on each side of midrib or anterior costa, diverging at c.20-45°. Inflorescence appearing beside (not among) and before the leaves, foul-smelling before and after opening, by anthesis accompanied (not subtended) by the reduced blade of the last cataphyll subtending the unexpanded foliage leaves; peduncle subterranean, length depending on depth of corm in soil, c.2.5mm diam., subtended by c.2 lanceolate cataphylls, the last exceeding the soil surface by a few millimetres. Spathe below the limb dirty white speckled brick-red, subterranean, tubular, compressed subglobose, c.lcm long x 1.2cm wide, separated at ground surface level from the limb by a deep and abrupt constriction where also the spathe inwardly thickened into an annular septum tightly embracing the naked portion of the spadix; interior of spathe tube at the apex with a small flap representing the insertion of the inner spathe margin; spathe limb c.4cm long x 3cm wide at widest, lanceolate, canoe-shaped, distally slightly refiexed, very dark purple to black and smooth adaxially, dull grey-brown and rugose abaxially, the margins crispate, the outer margin inserted on the shoulder of the spathe tube. Spadix slightly exceeding the spathe, sessile; female zone c.3mm long, c.6mm wide; pistils c.l.5mm long, close-packed, pale greenish ivory, the lowermost more or less plagioscopic, the upper becoming acroscopic; stigma c.lmm across, button-like, sessile; sterile organs c.3mm long, crowded in a zone adjunct to the female zone, clavate, down-turned, pale brick-red; male zone separated from the sterile organs by a naked deep purple interstice c.9mm long x 3mm diam. passing through the orifice of spathe septum; male zone 9mm long x 5mm diam., the base close up against the distal side of the spathe septum; anthers sessile, c.O.7mm wide, numerous, closely appressed, brick-red except for the,slightly protruding ivory tip of the connective; appendix c.3.5cm long, sessile, obliquely inserted, basally truncate, blackish purple, rugose, narrowly conic, distally slightly refiexed and tapering to a narrow blunt point. Infructescence beside (not among) the leaves, the withered subtending cataphylls enclosing both the peduncle and vegetative growth; fruiting peduncle c.4mm diam.; fruits at ground level, not enclosed by lower spathe, arranged in a hemispherical cluster c.l.5cm diam., ovoid to tetrahedral, ·longitudinally ridged, somewhat rugose in the upper part. Seed solitary, more or less onion-shaped, orange-brown, orthotropous, albuminous, strophiolate, longitudinally ridged, c.3mm long.