长枝蛇菰 chang zhi she gu

Plants dioecious, reddish yellow to dark red. Rhizome repeatedly branched, surface densely covered with warts and scattered stellate lenticels; branches obovoid-globose to cylindric. Scapes 5-15 cm, shorter on female shoot. Leaves 10-20, red, spirally arranged, imbricate, scaly, longitudinally striate when dry; basal leaves on scape broadly ovate, ca. 1 cm; middle leaves oblong, ca. 2 cm; apical leaves subspatulate, 3-3.5 cm, subtending inflorescence. Male inflorescences narrowly ovoid, 3-6 cm. Male flowers: subtended by truncate bract, pedicellate, dark red, zygomorphic, 4- or 5-merous, 8-10 mm in diam. Perianth lobes 4-4.5 mm, revolute at anthesis; upper and lower lobes broadly ovate, ca. 3 mm wide, apex truncate; lateral lobes lanceolate, apex acute. Synandria subspheroid to broadly ovoid, 2.5-4 mm in diam., stalked; anthers isomorphic, linear, with 20-30 parallel locelli, longitudinally dehiscent. Female inflorescences reddish yellow to reddish brown, ellipsoid to narrowly ellipsoid, 3-5 cm. Spadicles clavate, apical 1/3 ellipsoid to obovoid; cuticular ridges of apical cells labyrinthlike. Female flowers: basally on spadicles and main axis of inflorescence. Fl. Nov-Dec.

Broad-leaved evergreen forests; 900-1600 m. Yunnan [Indonesia].

One of us (Murata) considers it doubtful that this Indonesian species actually occurs in China. Chinese specimens under this name are possibly misidentified. Wu Zhengyi (editor’s note) concurs.