画笔南星 hua bi nan xing

Arisaema matsudae Hayata.

Tuber globose, 1-2(-3) cm in diam. Cataphylls lanceolate, ca. 8 cm. Leaves 2; petiole 25-30 cm, below middle sheathing into pseudostem; leaf blade 3-foliolate; central leaflet petiolulate, elliptic, ca. 14 × 6 cm; lateral ones subsessile, shorter than terminal, oblong-lanceolate, ca. 10 × 4 cm, base oblique, apex acuminate; collective vein 0.3-2 mm from margin. Peduncle as long as or longer than petioles. Spathe tube pale green, cylindric, 4-6 × 1.2-2 cm, throat margins spreading but not recurved; limb transversely demarcated between proximal white part and distal green part, oblong, 2-5 cm, apex acuminate with tip. Spadix unisexual. Female spadix: female zone green, pyramidal, ca. 1.5 cm; ovary ovoid; ovules 5, apex constricted into a short style; stigma capitate; appendix green, narrowly cylindric, 4-5 cm × 2-3 mm, base ca. 2 cm and apex 8-10 mm, covered with broadly filiform neuter flowers (1.5-2 mm). Male spadix: male zone narrowly conic, 3-4 cm, with sparse male flowers; synandria of 3 stamens; anthers ovoid, opening by longitudinal apical slits; appendix filiform, 3-4 cm, at apical 1-1.5 cm covered with filiform or subulate neuter flowers (1-2 mm). Fl. Apr-Jun.

● Understories of dense forests; below 1000 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan.

A Chinese record of Arisaema laminatum Blume (Bentham, Fl. Hongk. 342. 1861) is referable to A. penicillatum.