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Araceae
Amorphophallus lewallei Malaisse & Bamps
SUMMARY
Tuber flat globose to disciform, 3.5-20 x 2.5-9 cm, whitish, colour changes after excavation to green or grey green, produces 1-2 rhizome like offsets; offsets elongate to cylindrical, somewhat flattened on one side, 5-25 x 0.5-2 cm, enlarged towards the tip. LEAF (20-)50-160 cm high, develops at the same time as the inflorescence but remains enclosed by the cataphylls until the inflorescence has stopped flowering. Petiole (16-)30-140 x 1.5-6 cm, smooth, glossy, sometimes somewhat broadly elliptic ('oval') in cross-section; greenish with whitish to greenish sprinkling, sprinkling reduces towards the basal third or becomes moss green with white stripes and numerous small, elliptical, dark green spots; basally with a hint of purple. Blade strongly divided, up to 160 cm in diameter; rachis winged everywhere; terminal leaflets elliptic, 14-29 x 5.5-8 cm, tapering into a 1-2.5 cm long point, upper side green to grey green, underside green. Cataphylls (2-)3, the inner one reaches up to the constriction of the spathe, elliptic, 12-27 cm long, 6-12 cm in diameter, whitish to green with a hint of pale purple, with numerous small, elongate, brown green spots, veins set off against [background] as pale green stripes. INFLORESCENCE flowering before leaf expansion, nearly at ground level. Peduncle 3-9 x 0.8-2.5 cm, elongating to 100 cm after pollination, coloured like the petiole, smooth. Spathe 5-15 cm high (before the female phase), arranged into an annulus-shaped to triangular open limb and a strongly [com]pressed to globose tube by a strong constriction; constriction asymmetric, dropping away on one side and located above or ± at the middle of the staminate zone. Tube 3.5-10 x 6-16 cm, [com]pressed to globose or asymmetrically [com]pressed to ovoid ('oval'), outside bright greenish to pale green with several white, rounded spots; inside in the lower half brownish to purple, congested with wart- to papillae-like emergences which can form ± parallel ribs (or platforms), emergences may have small, rounded lobes, [inside] turning greenish to whitish green towards the constriction, there smooth. Open limb (4-)10-20 x (6-)10-29 cm, widely triangularly tapering on one side, at first sticking out horizontally, often erecting itself and pressing against the appendix during the female phase; outside bright green with a dark brown purple hint or just dark green; inside in the vicinity of the constriction whitish green, then turning darker; margin reddish to brown, blending into the dark green, with greenish veins, irregularly crinkly to undulate. Spadix sessile or with a short, ventrally naked area or stalked by 0.5 cm; somewhat tilted and gradually erecting itself (not with a bend as in A. angolensis subsp. maculatus) after the constriction, 13-33 cm long. Pistillate zone cylindrical to slightly conical, 1.2-5 x 1.3-3 cm, flowers congested. Staminate zone obconical to ovoid ('oval'), basally rounded, 2-4.5 x 1.5-4.3 cm, flowers very congested. Appendix spindle-shaped; sometimes with an anulus-like bulge ('kranzförminen Wulst') at about a third of its entire length; 10-23.5 x 2.3-6.5 cm; the lower fifth to third obconical, with slight or deep elongate pits or dents; the first milimeters above the staminate zone white, then turning grey green further up; the remaining upper part conical, thickly covered in ovoid ('oval') to elongate, acute, large warts, and grey green to greenish. Staminodes as the above described warts of the appendix and sometimes loosely dispered on the sterile zone between pistillate and staminate zone; [staminodes] then ovoid ('oval') to club-shaped and 1-3 mm big. Sterile zone between pistillate and staminate zone 0.2-1 cm wide; ratio of pistillate to staminate zone 0.8-1.1 : 1. Pistillate flowers ca. 5 mm big; ovary [com]pressed to globose or polygonal in cross-section, 3.5 x 2-4.5 mm, bright green, bi-(tri-)locular, one basal ovule-attachment per locule; stigma sessile, 1.5-2 x 2-3 mm, broadly elliptic ('oval') to circular from above, slightly bi-(tri-)humped, humps conical with rounded tip, light brown. Staminate flowers 2-3 mm long, 3-5(-6) stamens per flower; anthers ± cubical to wide cubical, apically rounded, 1-1.5 x 2-3 mm, ochre to yellow; connective brown or partially ivory white; filaments wide, 1-2 mm long, partially fused at the base; pores apical, elongate to slit-shaped before anthesis, after anthesis broadly elliptic ('oval'), one pore per theca. Pollen inaperturate, 38-54 x 37-48 µm, circular, orange, exine smooth (psilate). INFRUCTESCENCE elongates a lot; infructescence stalk to 111cm long, coloured a bit lighter than the petiole; infructescence cylindrical, 20-22 x 3-4.5 cm (of a small inflorescence). Berries loosely distributed, single to two seeded, elliptic to ovoid or aple-shaped and laterally depressed ('eingedrückt'), 1-1.8 x 0.9-1.5 cm, brightly red orange. Seeds ovoid, 1 x 0.7 cm, smooth, bright, silvery grey. Smell of sewage ('Abwasser').