Araceae
Gearum N.E.Br.
SUMMARY
HABIT : seasonally dormant, tuberous herbs with aromatic exudate when cut. LEAF : solitary. PETIOLE : sheath distinct, about half length of petiole. BLADE : subpalmatifid, lobes 5, central 3 lobes broader, elliptic, cuspidate, basal 2 narrower, lanceolate; primary lateral veins of each lobe forming submarginal collective vein on each side, higher order venation reticulate. INFLORESCENCE : solitary. PEDUNCLE : very short, much shorter than petiole. SPATHE : erect, slightly constricted, purplish, tube subcylindric, convolute, blade erect, gaping, oblong, cuspidate. SPADIX : shorter than spathe, fertile to apex, female zone shorter than male and separated from it by a sterile zone of synandrodes. FLOWERS : unisexual, perigone absent. MALE FLOWER : 4-androus, consisting of very shallow, subrhombic, truncate, subpeltate synandrium, thecae ± remote, situated near margin of synandrium, globose to oblong-ellipsoid, dehiscing by apical pore or occasionally by an oblique slit. POLLEN : ellipsoid, inaperturate, large (mean 56µm, range 52-60 µm), exine smooth (psilate) to scabrous-granulate. STERILE MALE FLOWERS : composed of irregularly elongated, shallow, truncate synandrodes. FEMALE FLOWER : densely crowded, gynoecium surrounded by usually 4 staminodes, staminodes laterally compressed, thick, rounded to obovoid, ovary subglobose, 3-4-locular, ovules 1 per locule, orthotropous, rather elongate, placenta axile at base of septum, stigma ± discoid, slightly (3-)4-lobed. BERRY : unknown. SEED : unknown.