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Araceae
Apoballis ovata (Schott) S.Y.Wong & P.C.Boyce
SUMMARY
Herb c. 15–30 cm tall. Stem to c. 40 cm long, decumbent to sprawling, pleionanthic, sometimes tinged deep red, c. 1–2 cm diam., with coarsely scabrid verruculate to rugose internodes. Leaves to c. 10 along the stem; petiole 9–18 cm long, scabrid-rugose abaxially at the base, the rest densely and minutely puberulent, sheathing in the lower ⅓–½ the wings of the sheath at first fully attached and tapering, then withering and partly deciduous, especially in the distal part; blade ovate to broadly ovate, dull dark green adaxially, paler abaxially, 8–17 cm long × 6–10 cm wide, the base obtuse to retuse, occasionally narrowly and shallowly cordate with posterior lobes to c. 1 cm long, the apex obtuse to acute, not at all acuminate, if obtuse then apiculate for c. 4 mm; midrib prominent abaxially, with 7–11 primary lateral veins on each side diverging at 45–60°; interprimary veins not differentiated, or very sporadic and hardly thicker than the secondary venation; secondary veins mostly arising from the midrib, some from near the bases of the primary veins in the lower part of the leaf; tertiary venation obscure. Inflorescence solitary; peduncle not or hardly exserted from the subtending leaf base, c. 3 cm long. Spathe 4.5–6 cm long, thick and spongy; lower spathe narrowly ovoid, c. 2–2.5 cm long, differentiated from the limb by a weak constriction; limb 2–2.5 cm long, oblong-lanceolate, not much opening, withering after anthesis and then deciduous, whitish. Spadix 3.5–4.5 cm long, subcylindric; female zone 1–1.3 cm long, obliquely inserted, subcylindric, c. 3 mm diam.; pistils more or less crowded, subcylindric-bottle-shaped, c. 0.7 mm diam.; stigma sessile, discoid, papillate, somewhat narrower than the ovary; interpistillar staminodes in 1–2 irregular whorls around the base of the female zone, shorter than and about the same diameter as the ovaries, more or less flat-topped, recurring in 1–4 very irregular whorls at the top of the female zone marking the base of the interstice; sterile interstice somewhat attenuate, 0.8–1.2 cm long, naked but for scattered groups of small sessile staminodes resembling sterile anthers; male zone somewhat thicker than the interstice, subcylindric, c. 1.4 cm long × 3 mm thick; stamens crowded, truncate, more or less dumbbell-shaped, c. 0.5 mm across; appendix much reduced, sometimes merely a terminal cluster of staminodes, or up to c. 4 mm long and conic, the base isodiametric with the top of the male zone; staminodes of appendix irregularly polygonal, more or less flat-topped, c. 0.7 mm diam. Fruiting peduncle somewhat declinate, not much further exserted than at flowering; fruiting spathe broadly urceolate, to 3 cm long.