CATE Araceae, 17 Dec 2011. araceae.e-monocot.org
SW. India; near streams and river banks in dry deciduous forests; endemic to southern parts of Karnataka and central and northern parts of Kerala in India.
Rhizomatous creeping perennials. Rhizome 0.4-1 cm thick and with transverse nodal ridges, straw-coloured without, white inside. Leaves usually dimorphic: lower (submerged) petiolate; petiole 2-6 cm long; leaf blades 2.2-7 x 0.3-1 cm, linear-lanceolate, base acuminate, margins undulate, apex acuminate, dark coloured; upper (emergent leaves): petiolate; petiole 2.5-33 cm long; leaf blades 3.5-46 x 0.5-4 cm, linear-lanceolate, or lanceolate, base cuneate, margins entire, apex acute to acuminate, uniformly green, thick, midrib thick, lateral veins about 6 on either sides of the midrib. Inflorescence with peduncle ca. 0.5-4.0 cm long, up to 8 cm during infructescence; spathe with basal slightly swollen cylindrical tube 1.6-3.0 cm long, 6-8 mm in diam., light pink/purple without and deep purple within; transverse septum roofing the kettle creamy in colour with many purple spots; upper tube 4.4-10.2 cm long, 3-4 mm in diam., light pink/purple, slightly twisted, with a collar around the mouth and purplish spots at the throat within and down below, and an apical, expanded, ovate lanceolate, long-acuminate limb portion of ca. 2.5-6 cm long, 0.5-1.2 cm broad, sometimes reflexed, tip 1-2 times twisted; greenish brown outside, usually yellowish green or creamy to yellowish within with purplish spots, verrucose, margins with purple warty teeth-like projections. Spadix enclosed in the tube, 1.5-2 cm long with conoid pistillate portion at base to ca.2.5 mm, followed by a sterile naked interstice of about 7-11 mm long, creamy with purple spots; staminate portion ellipsoid, ca. 2.5-4.0 mm long, and a terminal sterile top-shaped appendix of ca. 1 mm long. Female flowers (3-)5-6 at the base, connate in a whorl, each ca. 2.5-3 mm long, ca. 4 mm across, 1-locular; stigma sessile, circular with central depression and short papillae; ovules 12-21 in each ovary; few neuter flowers (olfactory bodies) present just above the pistillate portion. Male flowers 67-80, each with a single bithecal sessile purplish stamen, each theca with marginal rim and a terminal tubular horn with an apical pore. Infructescence conoid, ca. 12-17 mm long, 9-13 mm across; seeds numerous, ellipsoid.
Flowering & Fruiting: December-April.
Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/175218/7124419
