Dieffenbachia crebripistillata (Araceae)
Short, thick-stemmed herb, 3()-1()()(120) cm tall; sap foul-smelling, eventually turning white; inter- nodes dark green, glossy, 2.5-4 cm long, 1.5-3(5) cm diam.; petio1Kes 7..S-24 cm long (averaging 16 e m long), somewhat spongy, solid dark green or with a white band on the abaxial surface, conspicuously sheathed ranging from 0.7 to fully through- out the length but rarely ending mole than 1 cm below the blade and often extending beyond the base of the blade; sheath to 1.5 cm high, 7.5-19.5 em long, inequilaterally rounded to auriculate at apex; unsheathed portion usually not apparent but when present 1-7 cm long (average 1.6 cm long), broadly sulcate, the margins sharp; blades ovate to rarely elliptic or oblong-elliptic, (22)27-46(55) cm long, 10-25 cm wide (averaging 37 x 18 cm), 1.5- 3.3 times longer than wide (averaging 1.9 times longer), 1.9-3.7 times longer than petioles (aver- aging 2.3 times longer than petiole)* somewhat in- equilateral, one side up to 0.5-2.7 cmm wider, moderately coriaceous, abruptly acuminate and downturned at apex, obtuse to rounded at base, the basal portion of the blades held somewhat erect; upper surface glossy to moderately glossy, usually solid dark green sometimes mottled with pale green, slightly bicolorous; lower surface glossy, paler; midrib flat-raised to flat-rounded and paler especially near base, 12-20 mm wide, becoming obtusely convex toward apex and diminishing before reaching the apex above, broadly flat-rounded to narrowly rounded and pale green to white below (especially near the base); primary lateral veins (10)15 to 17 per side, sunken to weakly sunken above, raised below; interprimary veins obscure above, obscurely visible below; minor veins moderately distinct on lower surface. INFLORESCENCES 1 to 2 per axil; peduncle (8.5)10-14 cm long, flattened laterally, pale green; spathe 13-28 cm long, 1.3-1.5 times longer than peduncle, pale to medium green outside (sometimes white at an- thesis), paler within, unmarked, ± oblong, acuminate at apex, only weakly constricted midway (constricted area to 3.2 cm wide when flattened); spathe tube 1.5-3 cm wide when furled, 8-8.5 cm wide when flattened; spathe blade to 2.0-3.2 cm wide when furled; spadix 13-26.5 cm long (averaging 18 cm long), the free portion 8.5-11 cm long; pistillate portion 6-10(12) cm long, 8-12 mm wide; fertile staminate portion 5-9 cm long, 6-10 mm diam.; the mostly sterile intermediate portion (1)1.5-2.5 cm long, with some sterile male flowers in the up- per 1/3; pistils (57)80 to 100, scattered, frequently adjacent, up to 5 in a row across the width of the spadix, never more than 5 mm apart; stigmas pale orange, densely pubescent; staminodia white, + ob- long, ca. 2-3 mm long, rounded at apex; synandria irregularly rounded at apex, smooth or weakly dimpled medially, to 2.6-2.8 mm diam.; pollen exserted in slender cream-colored threads to 3 mm long. INFRUCTESCENES with berries ovoid to subellipsoid, orange to bright red, 8-11 mm long.
Dieffenbachia crebripistillata is endemie to central and eastern Panam.
In Tropical wet forest (T- wf), Preniontane wet forest (P-wf), and Premontane rain forest (P-rf) life zones (Holdridge, 1967) in Coclé, Colón, Panamá, and San Blas Provinces. While the species mostly occurs in a few areas of moderately high elevations (including Santa Rita Ridge, Cerro Bruja, Cerro Jefe, Cerro Campana, and La Mesa), it dips down to as little as 100 m along the Colon Province coast in the area of Rio Guanche and Portobelo. Most of these collections differ in having petioles that dry less orange and have the petiole sheath ending somewhat below the blade, never overtopping the blades.