Biarum dispar (Schott) Talavera

Tuber globose-discoid, 2.5–4 × 2–3.5 cm, mid-brown. Leaves 4–10, hysteranthous, long petiolate, bases encased by 3–5, 8–14( – 16) cm × 3–10( – 15) mm lanceolate sub-fleshy, later papery cataphylls, these pale greenish white at first, drying pale straw-yellow; petiole 10–17 cm long, 2–3 mm wide, adaxial surface strongly channeled distally, expanded into a wide membranous wing proximally, mid-green; leaf lamina oblong-elliptic, 6–8 × 3–3.5 cm, apex cuneate to rounded, base obtuse to sub-acute, c. 3–6 veins per side, margins smooth, lamina mid-green, very rarely bullate. Inflorescence appearing in late summer to autumn, smelling moderately of cattle dung and carrion. Peduncle 3–9 cm × 3–5 mm, clothed by few to many 2–9 cm × 5–12 mm papery, pale creamy white cataphylls. Spathe 8–10( – 14) cm long; spathe limb lanceolate, 6–8( – 12) cm × 4–12 mm, apex acute to acuminate, exterior green ± heavily blotched and stained purple-brown, rarely unstained, interior deep purple-brown, paler distally, rarely entirely dull green; spathe tube oblong-globose, strongly inflated, 2–3 × 1.5–2.5 cm wide, margins fused for ¼ of their length, exterior pale green, occasionally stained purple-brown towards the opening, interior off-white distally, deep purple proximally. Spadix sub-equal to just exceeding the spathe limb, 8–12 cm long; spadix appendix slender fusiform, 6.5–11 cm × 3–5 mm, deep purple-brown. Staminate flowers in a zone 9–13 × 3–6 mm, deep purple. Interstice 12–20 × 3–6 mm, deep purple. Staminodes situated at the base of the interstice, few to many, thickened-filiform, 2 – 10 mm long, deep purple. Pistillate flowers in a hemispherical cluster 2.5–4 × 3–7 mm wide; ovary 2–3 mm long, cream; style 1–1.5 × 0.25 mm, purple, stigma capitate, c. 0.5 mm in diam., grey-purple. Infructescence globose, 1.6–3 cm in diam., consisting of c. 35 berries; berries 4–6 × 4–5 mm, pale whitish lilac when ripe; seed globose, c. 5 mm in diam, testa reticulate, pale brown. 2n = 74 ( Chiappini & Scrugli 1972, Talavera 1976 ).