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Araceae
Dracontium polyphyllum L.
SUMMARY
Tuber hemispherical or rounded, 6-10cm diam., 5-8cm thick, flat above, rounded and white to brown below, 5-15cm below ground level; tubercles few, cylindrically elongated or irregular-shaped, 0.5cm diam., 1cm long, borne around the periphery of tuber; roots white, to 0.3cm diam.; cataphylls 3 to 5, 3-16cm long, 1-2cm wide, light brown, reaching or surpassing ground level. Leaves solitary or sometimes two or more per tuber; petioles 1-2m long above ground, 2-3.5cm diam. at midpoint, dark green or brown-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, 0.8-1m diam., papyraceous, sometimes fenestrate, sometimes variegated, with abundant raphide cells (sometimes), glossy and dark green above, semiglossy and medium green below; middle division twice trichotomously branched, 50-80 × 50-75cm, with terminal subdivision consisting of three sections, with each basal subdivision consisting of many segments; lateral divisions twice dichotomously branched, 50-80 × 45-70cm, with terminal subdivision consisting of 2 sections, with basal subdivision consisting of many segments; terminal and subterminal sections confluent or free, each consisting of a few segments or each consisting of many segments; leaf segments bilobed or trilobed, broadly oblanceolate, more than 5cm wide on each side of the major ribs, oblanceolate or elliptic, at least some of the basal segments free from each other, often with contrastingly smaller rounded or triangular segments alternating with larger segments: apices caudate or acuminate; ultimate segments 12-20cm long, free from penultimate segments or rarely confluent with penultimate segments; other segments 5-15cm long; penultimate segments free from subterminal sections; medial segments free from basal subdivisions, or rarely confluent with the basal subdivisions; basal segments present free from each other; rachises patterned similar to petiole but in much paler shades, with spiny projections (sometimes); tertiary veins obscure above and weakly raised below; bracteoles 3 or 4, 6-18 × 1.5-2cm, dark brown to pink, the longest one ± as long as the peduncle or shorter than the peduncle, covering up to 1/3 of the spathe. Inflorescence solitary or rarely two, appearing before new leaf; peduncle 5-18cm long above ground, 0.5-0.8cm diam. at midpoint, often almost completely subterranean (less than 10cm above ground level), scarcely mottled, gray or whitish green, with irregular very weak protuberances; spathe 6-12cm long, 3-5cm wide, cymbiform, cucullate, arching to 45o, apex acuminate; inner surface semiglossy, violet-purple, with translucent area obvious, 0.5-1cm high, shorter than spadix; outer surface maroon, tinged green, matte; margins entire or sometimes wrinkled, scarcely to slightly overlapping at the base; veins obscure to conspicuous inside, conspicuously darker or paler than the spathe, purple; spadix exposed, stipitate, cylindric, narrower at apex, purple, 2.5-4.2cm long, 1-1.2cm diam. at anthesis, never with appendages at apex; stipe 0.5-0.8cm long, 0.4-0.8cm diam. at anthesis, pale green or light brown. Flower tepals 4 to 5(to 6), 2-4 mm long, 1-2mm wide, purple or light brown; stamens 5 or 6 to 7; filaments 2-3mm long; anthers 1-2mm long, slightly exserted; ovary 3-locular or 3- or 4-locular (rarely), pale green; stigma 2-lobed or often 3- lobed; style 0-2mm long above tepals, purple, persistent. Infructescence with spadix 5-16cm long, 3-4cm diam. in fruit; berries 3-seeded, 0.5-0.7cm diam., 1-1.5cm thick, subglobose, 3- to 6-angular, apically subtruncate; young berries pale green; mature berries greenish purple; seeds 0.5-0.7cm diam., reniform, light brown, laterally raised; dorsal ridges obvious, 1, continuous, with the central ridge contrastingly raised, more than 1 mm thick, 0.5-1 mm high, warty along both sides, appearing as strongly reduced lateral ridges. (Croat 74210).