Anaphyllum (Araceae)
HABIT : evergreen herbs, clump- or colony-forming, rhizome creeping. LEAVES : solitary to few. PETIOLE : smooth to tuberculate, geniculate apically, sheath short. BLADE : sagittate-hastate to pedatifid when juvenile, trisect at maturity, anterior division remotely pinnatisect with linear-lanceolate, acute lobes, the upper ones decurrent, posterior divisions either linear-lanceolate or deeply divided into 3 coherent segments, rachis geniculate at insertion of anterior and posterior divisions; basal ribs well-developed, primary lateral veins of ultimate lobes pinnate, running into marginal vein, higher order venation reticulate. INFLORESCENCE : solitary. PEDUNCLE : very long and slender, similar in colour and texture to petiole. SPATHE : membranous to coriaceous, marcescent, either convolute basally and becoming spirally twisted and long-acuminate apically, or oblong-ovate, ± flat and fully expanded. SPADIX : cylindric, much shorter than spathe, stipitate or sessile, flowering sequence basipetal. FLOWERS : bisexual, perigoniate, tepals 3-4, fornicate. STAMENS : 3-5, filaments fairly wide, connective slender, thecae elliptic, dehiscing by short, apical, pore-like slit. POLLEN : monosulcate, ellipsoid, medium-sized (mean 29 µm., range 25-33 µm.), exine foveolate to reticulate, sometimes with elevated psilate regions, apertural exine psilate. GYNOECIUM : ovary ovoid, 1-locular, ovule 1, hemianatropous, funicle short, placenta parietal on single intrusive septum, style thick, attenuate, stigma subcapitate, exuding droplet at anthesis. BERRY : ovoid, smooth, red. SEED : ovoid, funicle slender, testa membranaceous, smooth, embryo stout, straight, endosperm absent.
Evergreen herbs with creeping rhizomes, clump- or colony-forming; petiole unarmed, smooth to tuberculate, geniculate apically; flowers bisexual, perigoniate. Differs from neotropical Anaphyllopsis in having seeds with a membranous, smooth testa and a straight embryo, and in its southern Indian range.
S. India.
Tropical evergreen forest in leaf litter and in swamp forest undergrowth; geophytes, rare.