Dracontium grandispathum G.H.Zhu & Croat

Tuber hemispherical, 10-18cm diam., 6-10cm thick, flat above, rounded and white to brown below, 12-20cm below ground level; cataphylls 3 to 4, 12-21 × 2-3cm, light brown, reaching or surpassing ground level. Leaves solitary; petioles 1.25- 2.75m long above ground, 2-3.5cm diam. at midpoint, dark green, contrastingly mottled with dirty white or pale green blotches and forming a reptilian pattern, usually smooth in upper half and with irregular protuberances in lower half; juvenile blade sagittate, or sagittately lobed; mature blade spreading horizontally, 1-1.2m diam., subcoriaceous, sometimes fenestrate, never variegated, without raphide cells or dark markings, glossy and medium green above, semiglossy and medium green below; middle division twice trichotomously branched, 55-75 × 50-60cm, with terminal subdivision consisting of three sections, with each basal subdivision consisting of many segments; lateral divisions twice dichotomously branched, 55-75 × 55-60cm, with terminal subdivision consisting of 2 sections, with basal subdivision consisting of many segments; terminal and subterminal sections often confluent, each consisting of many segments; leaf segments often entire, broadly oblanceolate, more than 5cm wide on each side of the major ribs, ovate or lanceolate, mostly free from each other in each division, often without contrastingly smaller rounded or triangular segments; apices acuminate; ultimate segments 25-30cm long, often free from penultimate segments; other segments 15-20cm long; penultimate segments free from subterminal sections; medial segments confluent with the basal subdivisions; basal segments present, free from each other; rachises patterned similar to petiole but in much paler shades, smooth; tertiary veins conspicuous above and weakly raised below; bracteoles 3 or 4, 12-22 × 2-3cm, light brown, the longest one much shorter than the peduncle, confined to the base. Inflorescence solitary, appearing before or after new leaf; peduncle 100-135cm long above ground, 1.5-2cm diam. at midpoint, more than half as long as the petiole, mottled similar to petiole but deeper in color, brownish green, smooth or spiny projections; spathe 45-50 × 10-15cm, non-cymbiform, constricted at a certain point and differentiated into a proximal tube and a distal lamina (blade), cucullate or non-cucullate, erect or slightly arching, apex acuminate (very broadly); 10-15 × 10-15 cm at widest point; lamina 2 to 3 times longer than the tube; inner surface semiglossy, maroon or purple-red or olive-brown, with translucent area moderately conspicuous, 12-15cm high, 1.5 to 3 times longer than spadix; outer surface olive-brown or green or green tinged brown, matte; margins entire, broadly overlapping at the base; veins conspicuous inside and raised outside, conspicuously darker or paler than the spathe, purple; spadix hidden, stipitate, cylindric, pale green or light brown, 3-5.5 × 1-1.5cm at anthesis, never with appendages at apex; stipe 0.5-1 × 0.5-0.7cm anthesis, light brown or dark purple. Flower tepals 5 to 6, 1-3mm long, 1-2mm wide, light brown or purple; stamens 7 to 11; filaments 1-2mm long; anthers 0.5mm long, hidden or slightly exserted; ovary 3-locular, pale green; stigma unlobed, or 3-lobed; style 0.5-1mm long above tepals, dark purple, persistent. Infructescence with spadix 12-18 × 2.5-3.5cm in fruit; berries 1- or 2-seeded, 0.5-0.6cm diam., 0.8-1cm thick, obliquely obovoid, apically rounded; young berry light green; mature berry orange, without reddish dots and raphide cells; seeds 0.6-0.7cm diam., rounded, red-brown, laterally flattened; dorsal ridges obvious, 3, often strongly interrupted, with the central ridge contrastingly raised, more than 1mm thick, 0.1-0.2mm high, warty along ridges.