双耳南星 shuang er nan xing

Arisaema biauriculatum W. W. Smith ex Handel-Mazzetti; A. pangii H. Li.

Plants dioecious. Tuber depressed globose, 2.3-5 cm in diam. Cataphylls 3 or 4, green or violet, with purplish spots, 15-20 cm, apex acute or obtuse. Leaves 2; petiole yellow-green with dark brown spots consisting of tiny striae, finally to 60 cm, proximal 1/3-1/2 forming pseudostem; leaf blade 3-foliolate; leaflets sessile, green; central leaflet elliptic, 15-30 × 4-10 cm, base cuneate, apex acuminate; lateral leaflets narrowly obovate, oblique, as long as central one, base auriculate, rounded on outer side, narrowly cuneate on inner side. Inflorescence emerging before leaves; peduncle as long as petioles. Spathe purplish brown or purplish green, 11-13 cm in total; tube cylindric, 4.5-6.5 × 1-2 cm, throat margins with horizontal auricle 1.5-2.5 cm wide; limb broadly ovate, 6-7 × 3.5-5 cm, base slightly constricted, apex shortly acuminate. Spadix unisexual; female zone conic, 1.5-2 × ca. 1 cm; ovary obovoid; ovules 4, basal; style short; stigma disciform; male zone 1.5-3 cm; synandria lax; anthers 2, shortly stipitate, purple, dehiscing by apical pore. Appendix erect, whitish green, cylindric, 2.5-4.5 cm × 4.5-5 mm, base truncate with a stipe 5-7 mm, middle part slightly constricted, apex obtuse. Berries red. Seeds 4, ovoid. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jun-Sep.

Mixed broad-leaved forests, mossy evergreen forests, grassy slopes; 2100-3300 m. SE Xizang (Mêdog), Yunnan [NE India (Assam, Manipur), NE Myanmar (W slope of Gaoligong Shan)].