Dracontium dubium Kunth

Tuber hemispherical, 5-17cm diam., 6-9cm thick, flat above, rounded and whitish to brown below, 3-36cm below ground level; tubercles few, rounded or cylindrically elongated, 0.5-0.9cm diam., 0.5-1.5cm long, borne around the periphery of the tuber; roots whitish, 1-2 mm diam.; cataphylls 2 or 3, 3-36 × 1.5-8cm, pink to light brown, reaching or surpassing ground level. Leaves solitary; petioles 1-2.4m long above ground, 2-4cm diam. at midpoint, dark green or tinged brown, contrastingly mottled with dirty white or pale green blotches and forming a reptilian pattern, smooth or sometimes with spiny projections; juvenile blade sagittate, or sagittately lobed; mature blades spreading horizontally, 1-1.2m diam., subcoriaceous papyraceous, rarely fenestrate, never variegated, sometimes with abundant dark markings, semiglossy and dark green above, matte and medium green below; middle division twice trichotomously branched, 50-72 × 45-75 cm, with terminal subdivision consisting of 3 sections, with each basal subdivision consisting of many segments; lateral divisions twice dichotomously branched, 50-70 × 47-73cm, with terminal subdivision consisting of 2 sections, with basal subdivision consisting of many segments; terminal and subterminal sections confluent or free, each usually consisting of a single segment or a few segments or rarely each consisting of many segments; leaf segments bilobed, broadly oblanceolate, more than 5cm wide on each side of the major ribs, orbicular-ovate, at least some of the basal segments free, often with contrastingly smaller rounded or triangular segments alternating with larger segments; apices acuminate, or acute; ultimate segments 9-20cm long, free from penultimate segments; other segments 10-20cm long; penultimate segments confluent with the subterminal sections; medial segments confluent with the basal subdivisions; basal segments present, free from each other; rachises patterned distinct from petiole, pale green or distinct from petiole, pale green, tinged brown, with irregular protuberances; tertiary veins obscure above and conspicuous below; bracteoles 1 or 2, 5-15(37) × 1.5-2cm, white to pink (at apex), the longest one longer than the peduncle, covering up to 1/3 of the spathe. Inflorescence solitary or sometimes two, appearing before new leaf; peduncle 3-36cm long above ground, 0.5-1cm diam. at midpoint, often almost completely subterranean (to a few cm above ground level), mottled similar to petiole but lighter in color, white tinged pink, smooth; spathe 4-15cm long, 2-5cm wide, noncymbiform, broadened at a certain point and differentiated into a proximal tube and a distal lamina (blade), non-cucullate or cucullate (slightly), arching to 45^o, apex acuminate; 1-4 × 1.8-3.5cm at widest point; lamina 2 or 3 times longer than the tube; inner surface covered with dense, translucent scales 1-2mm long, olive-brown or red-purple, with translucent area obscure; outer surface maroon, matte; margins entire, broadly overlapping in the lower third; veins obscure inside and outside, similar to the spathe in color; spadix exposed (often extending above the spathe tube), stipitate, cylindric, brownish purple, 1.2-4.2 × 0.5-1.3cm at anthesis, often with several appendages at apex, 0.2-0.5cm long when present; stipe 0.2-0.8 × 0.4-0.5 cm at anthesis. Flower tepals 6 or 7, 1-2mm long, 0.5-1mm wide, brown-purple; stamens 6 or 7; filaments 0.5-1.5 mm long; anthers 0.8-1mm long, slightly exserted; ovary bilocular or 3- to 5-locular, pale green; stigma 3-lobed, or 4-lobed; style 0.2-0.5 mm long above tepals, greenish, not persistent. Infructescence with spadix 4-6.5(10) × 2.6-3.5cm in fruit, berries (1)3- or 4(5)-seeded, 1- 1.5cm diam., 1.2-1.7cm thick, subglobose, 3- to 6-angular, apically truncate; young berries dark green; mature berries orange (or yellow), with or without some reddish dots or raphide cells, seeds 0.8-1cm long, 0.5-0.7cm diam., elongated or rounded, red-brown, laterally flattened; dorsal ridges obvious, more than 3, strongly to slightly interrupted, monomorphic, less than 0.5mm thick, 0.8-1mm high, smooth on both sides.