尖尾芋 jian wei yu

Arum cucullatum Loureiro, Fl. Cochinch. 2: 536. 1790; Alocasia rugosa (Desfontaines) Schott; Caladium cucullatum (Loureiro) Persoon; C. rugosum Desfontaines; Colocasia cochleata Miquel; C. cucullata (Loureiro) Schott; C. rugosa (Desfontaines) Kunth; Panzhuyuia omeiensis Z. Y. Zhu.

Herbs, clumping, small to medium sized, somewhat robust, to 1 m, evergreen. Stems erect, hypogeal, basally much branched. Leaves many together; petiole weakly D-shaped in cross section, 25-30(-80) cm, sheath reaching to ca. 1/2 way, margins membranous; leaf blade broadly ovate-cordate, 10-40 × 7-28 cm, base shallowly cordate, apex acute; primary veins 4 on each side, radiating from petiole, arching, interprimary veins not forming a collective vein. Inflorescences rarely produced, usually solitary, sometimes paired, among leaf bases, subtended by membranous cataphylls; peduncle 20-30 cm. Spathe green, 9-15 cm; proximal spathe 4-8 × ca. 2.5 cm; limb narrowly cymbiform, 5-10 × 3-5 cm. Spadix 8-14 cm; female zone cylindric, 1.5-2.5 cm × ca. 7 mm; sterile zone 2-3 cm × ca. 3 mm; male zone yellow, ca. 3.4 cm × 8 mm; appendix yellowish, narrowly conic, ca. 3.5 cm × 5 mm. Fruit rarely produced, a subglobose berry, 6-8 mm in diam., ripening red. Fl. May.

Watersides, by fields, ?wild or cultivated; below 2000 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Bangladesh, NE India (Khasi Hills, Sikkim), Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam].

The plants are used externally for detoxifying viper bites and are also used for treating abscesses, rheumatism, and arthritis. It is an important good-luck plant in Buddhist temples in Laos and Thailand.