Schottariella P.C.Boyce & S.Y.Wong

Small rheophytic herbs up to c. 20 cm tall. Stem condensed (very rarely elongated and forming a decumbent to weakly creeping rhizome), 0.5-1.2 cm diam.; roots arising adventitiously from the lower parts of an otherwise erect stem (rarely arising along the length of a decumbent rhizome) Leaves several together, spreading to arching; petiole 6-12 cm long, slender, adaxially canaliculate especially in distal part, sheathing only at extreme base, the wings extended into a coriaceous very narrowly triangular persistent ligular portion 4-7 cm long, dark green tinged red, drying brown; blade very narrowly elliptic, 10-14 cm long × 1-2.5 cm wide, thinly but somewhat stiffly coriaceous, adaxially glossy dark green, paler abaxially, the base cuneate, the apex acuminate to caudate for 1.5-3 cm; midrib abaxially prominent, adaxially flush to slightly impressed with the lamina, with 5-6 extremely fine (barely differentiated from secondary venation in dry material; flush with but darker than surrounding tissue in fresh state) primary lateral veins on each side, diverging at c. 45°; secondary venation faintly prominent adaxially, fine and dense; tertiary venation obscure. Inflorescence solitary per shoot although plants usually bearing several inflorescences in sequence from separate but densely aggregated shoots; peduncle 3-8 cm long, stiffly arching-spreading in nature (where plants occur on vertical mud banks) but erect in cultivated plants grown in pots. Spathe weakly nodding by slight down-curving of lower part, 4-6 cm long; lower spathe narrowly ovoid, slightly down-curved, deep green, 1.5-2 cm long, and in the main differentiated on colour and texture (lower spathe stiffly coriaceous, spathe limb somewhat softly coriaceous) from the limb and weakly differentiated by a constriction; limb pale to mid-pink or less often white, caducous, ovate-lanceolate, spathe slightly inflated and gaping during female anthesis, then spreading during male anthesis, narrowed into a beaked tip throughout, during late anthesis limb marcescent from the margins inwards and downwards and then, with the portion closest to the abscission layer still fresh, the spathe limb shedding. Spadix subcylindric, 3-3.5 cm long; female zone 1-1.2 cm long, dorsal (in relation to spathe) side of female zone adnate to the spathe, c. 5 mm diam.; pistils gibbous-cylindric to ellipsoid-oblong, c. 1 mm diam.; stigma sessile, discoid, c. 1 mm diam. and slightly overtopping the ovary, papillate at anthesis, deep pink; interpistillar staminodes absent from among the pistils, confined to a row along the spathe/spadix adnation and occasionally a scattered individual amongst the two lowermost rows of pistils, stipitate, weakly clavate, slightly exceeding the pistils, white; sterile interstice confined to about 2 irregular whorls of sterile stamens at the base of the male zone, white; male zone c. 1 cm long, rather narrower than the female zone, c. 3 mm diam.; stamens crowded, rather irregular in shape and size, ellipsoid to dumbbell-shaped from above, c. 0.5 mm across, partially to completely connate into groups of 2-3, truncate and flat-topped at female anthesis but at anthesis each theca extending a needle-like projection c. 2 mm long and terminating with a weakly peltate ovate-triangular flap through which pollen is extruded; occasionally a scattered deep pink pistillode among the stamens; appendix absent to bullet-shaped, basally isodiametric with top of male zone, distally tapering and finally narrowly obtuse, up to c. 0.5 cm long; pistillodes of appendix columnar, flat topped, faintly impressed, c. 0.5 mm diam., often united to the top into curved or sinuous groups, mid-deep pink - very small inflorescences with spadix fertile to the apex and pistillodes absent. Fruiting spathe unequally funnelform, c. 1.5-2 cm long, c. 1 cm wide across the mouth, the margins obliquely declined towards the convolution; fruiting peduncle arching/declinate with lower spathe mouth held laterally or slightly downwards with the convolution ventral in respect to the peduncle; berry gibbous-cylindric to ellipsoid-oblong, 1-1.8 mm long, 1-1.5 mm diam., with rather few seeds, mid-green with stigmatic remains dull brown and just overtopping the ovary; seed ellipsoid, 1-2 mm long, 0.25-0.3 mm diam., very pale brown, minutely scabrid, lacking a micropylar appendage.