Zomicarpella maculata N.E.Br.

Plant tuberous, (8-)10-20 cm tall, with 1-2 leaves and 1-2 inflorescences (2 inflorescences only on plants with 2 leaves). Tuber depressed-globose to ± irregularly globose, 1-1.2 cm in diam. and 0.6-0.8(-1) cm tall. Petiole 9-15 cm long and 1.5-2 mm in diam., terete and somewhat channelled on upper side, dull olive-green and marked with irregular transverse bars of olive-brown (according to N. E. Brown); sheath 0.5-0.8(-1) cm long. Leaf blade cordate to cordate-sagittate, (5-)6-10 × (4-)4.5-8 cm, light green below, plain dark green above, some with light green variegation along the midrib (from the collector’s note) or variegation as lighter coloured flecks over the whole leaf blade (from the holotype and N. E. Brown’s description: “prettily marked with some very irregularly shaped blotches of pale green shade and spotted with darker green”); apex acute to broadly acute; basal lobes strongly developed, with a round sinus at the petiole insertion, not overlapping or only rarely (in one specimen), ± roundish to cordate, (2-)3-4 cm long and 2.5-3.5 cm wide; venation reticulate, the midrib and three primary lateral veins on each side arising at the petiole insertion, all of the same thickness, the basal pair of primary lateral veins running into the basal lobes and after two thirds of their length becoming dichotomously divided, the second pair at first ± lateral and then slightly turning upwards, the third pair ascending towards the apex, all primary lateral veins forming a collective vein along the margin at a distance of 4-6 mm, with a second much thinner and often inconspicuous collective vein along the margin at a distance of only 0.4-1 mm, veins of second order thinner and between the primary ones. Cataphylls membranaceus, (2-)2.5-3.5 cm long. Peduncle 9-14 cm long and c. 1 mm in diam., terete (white according to the collector’s note, but probably light green; coloured like the petiole according to N. E. Brown). Spathe not constricted, lanceolate, 1.5-2.5 cm long and c. 0.4 cm wide in the lower part, expanded at anthesis (pink according to the collector’s note; dull olive-green according to N. E. Brown), the veins well visible. Spadix 2.5-3(-4.5) cm long (longer than spathe), the axis dark coloured (probably ± purple); female zone c. 7 mm long, adnate to the spathe and with 5-7(-8) (or 12-15 according to N. E. Brown) flowers; sterile zone c. 3 mm long with about 3 laxly arranged rows of ± oblong, c. 0.5 mm long pistillodes on an otherwise naked axis; male zone 7-15 mm long, the flowers ± densely to very laxly arranged; appendix very slender and quite thin, filiform, 1-1.5(-2) cm long, darker coloured (purple?; black according to N. E. Brown). Flowers unisexual, naked. Female flowers bottle-shaped to ellipsoid-oblong, 0.9-1 mm long and c. 0.4 mm in diam., dull brownish olive (according to N. E. Brown); stigma subsessile (or stylar region only 0.15-0.2 mm long), discoid, c. 0.3 mm in diam.; ovary with very small spots externally, unilocular; placentation basal; ovule one, anatropous, 0.4 mm long and with a very short funicle. Male flowers consisting of one stamen only; thecae ± globular, subsessile, 0.4-0.45 mm in diam., very dark coloured (deep purple?; blackish according to N. E. Brown), each opening by a pore; connective inconspicuous (never elongate); pollen extruded in strands (on the holotype), orange-coloured (according to N. E. Brown), inaperturate, spherical, 30-31 μm in diam., the exine spinose, the spines 1.8-2 μm long. Infructescence c. 1 cm long, with 5-6 fruits, the spathe (at least the lower part) persistent. Berries oblong-ellipsoid, c. 3(-3.2) mm long and 2 mm in diam., oneseeded, the pericarp thin, with remnant of the style and stigma. Seed ellipsoid-oblong, 2.8-3 mm long and 1.5 mm in diam.; testa smooth, mottled with purple and yellow; raphe ± conspicuous, hilum small; endosperm copious, white; embryo ellipsoid, axile, undifferentiated.