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Araceae
Chlorospatha amalfiensis Croat & L.P.Hannon
SUMMARY
Terrestrial herb, ca. 50 em tall stem (possibly decumbent), length not known, remnants of old cataphylls persisting ± intact at upper nodes (all measurements made from dried material); internodes 1-1.5 em long, 1.2-1.5 em diam., drying matte, medium grayish brown, prominently wrinkled; cataphylls ca. 20 cm long, acuminate at apex, drying semi-glossy, dark reddish brown. LEAVES 5, erect-spreading; petioles 36-37 cm long, drying glabrous, matte to weakly glossy, dark reddish brown, sheathed 20-24 cm (8-12 cm on foliage leaves), ca. l/2 of total length; sheath decurrent at apex; free portion 2-2.5 mm diam., midway; blades sagittate, 19-21 cm long, 11-11.5 cm wide (9.8-10 cm wide at base, measured tip to tip across posterior lobes), 1.7-1.8 times longer than wide, long-acuminate at apex, broadest across anterior lobe, drying thin, weakly bicolorous; upper surface drying matte to weakly glossy, dark yellow-brown, weakly grayish; lower surface drying weakly glossy to semi-glossy; anterior lobe 14.5 cm long, 11-11.5 cm wide, 1.3 times longer than wide, 1.8-2 times longer than posterior lobes, broadest near base, ± symmetrical; posterior lobes directed toward the base, 7-8 cm long, 5.2-5.8 cm wide, 1.3-1.4 times longer than wide, narrowly rounded to bluntly acute at apex, broadest at base, prominently inequilateral, the inner side narrower, ± acute and narrowly confluent with opposite lobe at base, the confluent portion obscuring petiole apex; outer side 3.4-4.5 times wider than inner side midway; midrib and major veins drying weakly raised or flattened on lower surface, moderately darker than surface; basal veins 6, the 1st free to the base, 5 coalesced into a prominent posterior rib, 3 acroscopic, 2 basiscopic; primary lateral veins 2 pairs, arising at 25-32°, weakly arcuate; secondary veins drying weakly raised, weakly darker than lower surface; tertiary veins drying flattened, weakly darker than lower surface; reticulate veins drying obscure, in part weakly darker than lower surface; collective veins 3, the innermost arising from the lower-most lateral vein on inner side of posterior lobe, ± parallel to margin. INFLORESCENCES erect, 5 per axil; peduncle held within the sheath, 18-23 cm long, 1-1.5 mm diam., drying matte to weakly glossy, dark brown; spathe erect, 7-7.5 cm long, cuspidate at apex, weakly or not at all constricted between tube and blade; spathe tube purplish brown on outer surface, 3.8 cm long, 4.5-5 mm diam., drying matte, dark brown; spathe blade white, 3.7 cm long, 4-4.5 mm diam., drying matte, medium reddish brown on outer surface, paler on inner surface, marcescent, erect after anthesis; spadix erect, 5.7 cm long, sessile, adnate to spathe 8 mm at base, ca. l/3 of the length of pistillate portion; pistillate portion 2.2 cm long, 3 mm diam., drying brownish; fertile staminate portion 1.8-1.9 cm long, 3 mm diam., clavate, narrowly rounded at apex, drying medium dark brown; sterile staminate portion 1.3 cm long, 1.5 mm diam., ± cylindrical, drying tan; pistils laxly arranged, ca. 3 across the axis (viewed from above), ca. 1.5-2 mm long; ovaries subglobose, ca. 1 mm long, 1-1.5 mm diam., drying dark brown; style mantle-like, 0.7-1 mm long, ca. 1.5 mm diam., comprising ca. l/2 of the length of pistil, long-attenuate, broadly spreading, appressed to ovary, slightly wider than ovary apex, the margins weakly coherent with margins of adjacent styles; stigma elevated on and weakly broader than narrowed portion of style, ca. 0.3 mm diam., drying dark brown; synandria ca. 1 mm long, 1-1.2 mm diam., coherent, truncate, 3-lobed, 3-androus; sterile flowers ca. 1 mm long, 1 mm diam., subprismatic to irregularly lobed, laxly arranged, in 9 whorls. BERRIES not known.