CATE Araceae, 17 Dec 2011. araceae.e-monocot.org
Malesia: endemic to Borneo (restricted to central and northern Sarawak, and Brunei).
More or less repent, sometimes pendent herb to c. 40 cm long. Stem fleshy, somewhat condensed to elongate with internodes to 3 cm long, c. 1-2 cm diam., usually rooting along its length in mud. Leaves several together; petiole shorter than to subequalling the blade, 5-27 cm long, adaxially somewhat flattened and crisped-alate, sheathing only at the extreme base, the wings extended into a very narrowly triangular ligular portion 4-8 cm long, drying pale brown; blade broadly oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 12-25 cm long × 2.5-8 cm wide, thickly membranous to distinctly coriaceous, adaxially glossy dark green, paler abaxially and there often with the major venation tinged purplish, the base cuneate to narrowly rounded, the apex shortly acuminate and apiculate for 1-4 mm; midrib abaxially prominent, adaxially more or less flush with the lamina, with about 10 primary lateral veins on each side regularly alternating with lesser interprimaries and diverging at 45-60°; secondary venation adaxially more or less obscure, abaxially fine; tertiary venation forming a fine tessellate reticulum abaxially to obscure (depending on blade thickness). Inflorescence solitary to 3 in a synflorescence subtended by lanceolate cataphylls resembling the ligules; exposed peduncle shorter than the spathe at anthesis, becoming longer afterwards, sometimes completely concealed by cataphylls at anthesis, c. 6 cm long. Spathe more or less erect, 6-9.5 cm long, constricted; lower spathe narrowly ovoid and slightly asymmetric, green to purplish green, c. 3 cm long, persistent; limb cream to pink, broadly lanceolate, apiculate for c. 7 mm, wide-gaping then reflexed, caducous. Spadix 5-7 cm long, subcylindric (slightly attenuate at top of female zone); female zone 1.8-2.5 cm long, narrowly conic, obliquely inserted, distally c. 0.5 cm diam.; pistils large, crowded, to 3 mm diam., strongly depressed-globular; stigma sessile, discoid, slightly centrally impressed, not or barely raised above the surface of the top of the ovary, papillose; interpistillar staminodes absent from among the pistils (very occasionally one or two among the lower pistils), otherwise confined to an interrupted whorl around the base of the spadix, shortly stipitate, ovoid-conic, sometimes with a narrow tongue-like extension to one side of the tip, somewhat higher than the pistils; sterile interstice robust, subcylindric, the base corresponding with the base of the spathe limb and wider than the top of the female zone, 0.7-1 cm long, 0.5-0.6 cm diam.; staminodes of interstice truncate, irregularly rounded-rectangular and transversely aligned from above, somewhat impressed centrally, densely papillate, sometimes bearing vestigial horns or these absent, 2-3 mm across; male zone cylindric to faintly conoid, 0.6-1.3 cm long, distally 0.4-0.5 cm diam.; stamens large, transversely (with respect to spadix) aligned and strictly superposed in longitudinal (with respect to spadix) rows, rounded-rectangular, c. 2 mm across, apically densely tubercular-papillate, centrally somewhat impressed; thecae paired on the proximal (with respect to spadix axis) side of the stamen, with slender, spreading and distally sharply down-turned horns c. 0.8 mm long; appendix narrowly conic, basally slightly to distinctly wider than the top of the male zone, 2.5-3.5 cm long, basally 0.5-0.7 cm diam., distally tapering and narrowly obtuse; staminodes of appendix truncate, apically densely tuberculate, sometimes centrally impressed, more or less round from above, centrally impressed, c. 2 mm diam., partly connate into groups of 3-4, the groups more or less longitudinally aligned like the stamens. Fruiting spathe narrowly urceolate, c. 3 cm long; berry obovate-oblong, 5-6 mm long, c. 4 mm diam., greenish white; seed ellipsoid, 4-5 mm long, c. 1.5 mm diam., with a long curved micropylar appendage; testa longitudinally ridged.
Rheophytic, occasionally terrestrial on very wet forest floor, in deep shade at low elevation.
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
