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Araceae
Schismatoglottis ardenii A.Hay
SUMMARY
Herb to ca. 50 cm tall. Stem subterranean, clump-forming, hapaxanthic, ca. 1.5 cm diam. Leaves 1-3 per crown; petiole ca. 40 cm long, sheathing in the lower ca. 1/4; wings of sheath tapering, fully attached to petiole; blade narrowly hasto-sagittate, glossy dark-mid green adaxially, paler abaxially, ca. 30 cm long, ca. 8 cm wide, the tip acuminate for ca. 4 cm, the base deeply divided into two narrowly triangular, distally slightly out-turned posterior lobes to 6 cm long; midrib abaxially prominent, slightly impressed adaxially, with ca. 8 primary lateral veins on each side (more concentrated in the proximal 1/2 of the blade), regularly alternating with interprimaries and diverging at ca. 70°; tertiary venation obscure. Inflorescence solitary; peduncle short, entirely concealed (at anthesis) by subtending cataphyll. Spathe 6 cm long, abruptly constricted ca. 2.5 cm from base; lower spathe squat ovoid-cylindric, pale green limb ovoid, slightly gaping, white, caducous and crumbling. Spadix sessile, 4.4 cm long, hourglass-shaped; female zone not adnate to the spathe, 1.3 cm long, subcylindric, slightly tapering distally; pistils crowded, very pale green, more or less ovoid, 1-1.5 mm diam.; stigma sessile, small, punctate; interpistillar staminodes numerous, narrowly cylindric, barely clavate, about the height of the ovaries, white, ca. 0.5 mm diam.; sterile interstice somewhat attenuate, the top aligned with the spathe constriction, ca. 6 mm long, 4 mm diam in the upper part, composed of appressed elongate interpistillar staminodes of few of which with single fertile thecae, and a few partially fertile stamens; male zone narrowly obconic, 9 mm long, basally isodiametric with top of male zone, distally 7 mm diam.; stamens dumbbell-shaped from above with the connective faintly raised between the thecae, ca. 1 mm across; appendix conoid, white, 1.3 cm long, basally slightly and abruptly wider than the top of the male zone, 9 mm diam., apically tapering to a ragged point; staminodes of appendix columnar, irregularly polygonal with rounded angles, centrally impressed at the apex, ca. 0.6 mm diam., the distal elongate and somewhat bent. Fruit unknown.