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Araceae
Dieffenbachia copensis Croat
SUMMARY
Small herb, to 45 cm tall; internodes about as long as broad, 7 mm diam., drying matte, dark brown, finely and irregularly folded; petioles (17)21-29.5 cm long, sheathed 41%-56% their length, sheath 8-12.5 cm long, narrowly acute at apex, drying dark brown to medium yellow-brown; free portion 10.5-15.5 cm long, subterete, obtusely sulcate, drying medium yellow-brown to dark brown, minutely granular to somewhat scabridulous; blades narrowly oblanceolate, 25.5-33.3 cm long, 5.2 cm wide, 6.4 times longer than wide, narrowly long-acuminate at apex, narrowly attenuate at base, dark green and matte above, moderately paler and semiglossy below, drying dark gray-green and minutely granular above, light yellowish gray be- low; midrib concolorous and narrowly raised above, convex and granular-puberulent to hispidulous and slightly darker below; primary lateral veins 9 to 12 pairs, arising at an acute angle then spreading at 45°-50° angle, prominently curved upward along the margins and extending to above the origin of the next higher veins, paler and weakly sunken above, convex and slightly darker below, drying narrowly raised and granular; minor lateral veins weakly visible; cross-veins equally visible on lower surface; lower surface moderately granular. INFLORESCENCE solitary, longer than the petioles; peduncles 5 cm long drying 2.5 mm diam., pale yellow-brown; spathe 5.1 cm long, 1.2 cm diam., pale green, drying medium yellow-brown, narrowly long-acuminate at the apex (acumen 1.7 cm long); spadix 12.3 cm long; free portion 8.5 cm long; pistillate portion 5 cm long. 4-S mm diam.; staminate portion 5.5 cm long, 4 mm diam., drying yellow-brown; mostly naked; intermediate sterile portion 1.1 cm long, 2.5 mm diam. on drying, with only a few staminodia scattered throughout its length; pistils 38, 2 to 3 situated across the width of the spadix; ovary 0.5-6.0 mm diam.; stigmas about as broad as the ovary; staminodia 2 to 4 per pistil, 1-1.4 mm long, slightly thickened toward the apex, not at all broadened toward the base; the sterile male flowers in 2 rows, somewhat separated from the fertile flowers; synandria 2.2-2.8 mm long, 1.6-2.0 mm wide, irregularly rounded to rhombic at apex. INFRUCTESCENCE not seen.