Zomicarpella amazonica Bogner

Plant with 1-3 leaves and a dormant period of growth, otherwise evergreen. Rhizome creeping, 4-7 cm long and ca. .5 cm in diam., dark brown, with buds; roots 2.0-2.5 mm in diam. Petiole 10-15 cm long and 3-4 mm in diam., terete and slightly channeled (canaliculate) on upper side (towards leaf blade), dark green and sometimes reddish tinged; sheath short, 1.0-1.5 cm long. Leaf blade hastate-sagittate, 10-15 cm long and 6-9 cm wide, plain dark green or variegated with pale green blotches on upper surface and somewhat glossy, veins sunken, lighter green on lower surface and veins prominent; basal lobes obtuse, apex cuspidate; venation reticulate, midrib strong, 3-4 primary lateral veins on each side and mostly arising at the petiole insertion, the lower pair running into the basal lobes, veins of second order thinner, the primary lateral veins forming a submarginal collective vein 3-5 mm distance from the margin, a second thinner collective vein close (.5-1.0 mm) along the margin. 1-2 inflorescences in each floral sympodium, appearing with the leaves. Peduncle 5-14(-17) cm long and (1.8-) 2-3 mm in diam., green (whitish on lower part) and spotted with . small elongate red to reddish-brown blotches; enclosed at base by a few cataphylls, these up to (3-)4-5 cm long, whitish and red spotted. Spathe constricted, 4-6 cm long; tube convolute, 2.0-2.5 cm long; blade expanded, erect at first and then reflexed, 3.0-3.5 cm long, ca. 1.7 cm wide in the middle, apex acute; spathe outside whitish and spotted with small elongate red to red-brown blotches (as peduncle), inside cream-colored to whitish. Spadix shorter than spathe, 3.2-4.5 cm long; female zone adnate to spathe, .7-1.5 cm long and 3.0-3.5 mm in diam., male zone free, cylindric, 1.0-1.5 cm long and 1.8-2.0 mm in diam., cream-colored; male and female flowers contiguous; appendix slender, 1.2-1.6 cm long and ca. 1 mm in diam., smooth, whitish and spotted with very small red to red-brown blotches, apex blunt. Flowers unisexual, naked. Male flowers densely arranged, consisting of one stamen only (1-androus); stamens free, sessile to subsessile, ca. .5 mm long; connective inconspicuous; thecae opposite, subglobose, ca .. 3 mm in diam., opening by apical pore. Pollen extruding in strings, cream-colored, pollen grains inaperturate, globular, 18-20 µm in diam., exine spinose, spines 2.2-2.5 µm long. Gynoecium depressed bottle-shaped; ovary depressed-globular and somewhat compressed laterally, ca. 1 mm in diam., whitish to very pale green, unilocular with 3-6 (mostly 4) ovules on basal placenta; ovules anatropous, funicle quite short; style short, tapering towards stigma, .20-.25 mm in diam. below stigma, brownish to red-brown; stigma small (not broader than style), discoid, .20-.25 mm in diam., slightly papillose, brownish to red-brown. Infructescence with persistent lower part of spathe, this then dark red colored. Fruits a nearly globular berry, 5-7 mm in diam., whitish and somewhat reddish apically, with style and stigma remnant, 1-3-seeded. Seed irregularly ellipsoid, somewhat compressed laterally, 4-5 mm long and 2-3 mm wide, raphe conspicuous; testa thin, smooth, whitish; hilum somewhat sunken and deep purple around; usually connected with the swollen and enlarged funicle; embryo ellipsoid to pear-shaped, small, ca. .7 mm long; endosperm copious, white. Chromosome number: 2n = 26; size ranging from 2-7 µm, one pair of the chromosomes is smaller (ca. 2 µm) than the others (ca. 4.5-7.0 µm).