Chlorospatha Engl.

Terrestrial, evergreen herbs, 0.3-2 m tall; stem erect or decumbent; sap milky or transparent, rarely pink; bulbils absent or produced randomly along its length, solitary, rarely in clusters of 2--6; internodes usually as long as or slightly longer than wide (1-2 cm long), usually glabrous; cataphylls marcescent and persistent or quickly to ultimately deciduous. LEAVES long-petiolate; petioles lacking a geniculum, as long as or longer than blades, usually glabrous, sheathed 1/4-3/4 or sometimes nearly throughout; free portion terete to D- or U-shaped; blades oblong, ovate or ovate-elliptic, rounded or acute at the base and occasionally inequilateral, or simple and cordate, sagittate, subsagittate, hastate or subhastate or variously divided and trifid or pedatifid, auriculate or not, or compound and trisect or pedatisect; venation colocasioid, occasionally reticulate; midrib usually glabrous, raised on lower surface; primary lateral veins pinnate; basal veins coalesced into posterior rib; minor veins glabrous or sometimes pubescent on lower surface. INFLORESCENCES terminal (appearing axillary), usually emitting sweet fragrance at anthesis, 2-8(-10) per sympodium; peduncle usually longer than spathe, much shorter than to slightly longer than petiole; spathe surrounding spadix, weakly or not at all constricted between tube and blade, opening narrowly or broadly 2/3 to almost its entire length at anthesis or only ± broadly on blade portion, narrowly to broadly funnel-shaped or tubular; spathe tube hiding most or all of sterile staminate portions of spadix, persisting in fruit; spathe blade ± erect or weakly to prominently cucullate, ultimately deciduous after anther dehiscence; spadix monoecious, contained within spathe, sessile or stipitate, entirely or in part adnate to spathe at base, usually 1/2 or more of length of pistillate portion, divided into pistillate portion at base and fertile male portion at apex, separated by sterile male portion; pistillate portion densely to laxly flowered, 1--6 flowers across axis; stamens fused into synandria; thecae dehiscing by terminal pores or longitudinal slits; synandria 2--6-androus (usually 3-4); pollen in tetrads, female flowers unipistillate, (1-)2-4-locular; ovules 3-14 in plurilocular ovaries, 8-20 in unilocular ovaries, 1-2 (-3)-seriate or disorganized, rarely 3-4-seriate, extremely short to conspicuously longer than ovary; stigma brush-like. INFRUCTESCENCES with berries exposed by re-opening spathe, depressed-globose, seeds 3-25 per berry, chromosomes: 2n = 26. Taxa 71 (70 species, 1 variety).