Dracontium
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Authority
Mori, S. A., et al. 1997. Guide to the vascular plants of central French Guiana: Part 1. Pteridophytes, gymnosperms, and monocotyledons. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 76: 1-422.
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Family
Araceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Genus Description - Terrestrial herbs. Stems tuberous, depressed-globose, the internodes very short, the roots arising from apical portion. Leaves solitary, erect; petiole elongate, aerenchymatous, mottled with a snake-like pattern and often tuberculate; blade deeply 3-parted, segments pinnate or bipinnatifid, the leaflets thin, pinnately-veined, with conspicuous tertiary venation, the rachis often with segments of leafy tissue. Inflorescences solitary, borne directly from tuber, arising before or after leaf, the peduncle short to elongate, much like petiole in appearance; spathe persistent, narrowly ovate to naviculiform, usually convolute at base, open above, often hooded at apex; spadix short-stipitate, cylindroid, slightly tapered toward apex, densely many-flowered, much shorter than spathe. Flowers perfect, perigoniate; sepals 4-8, biseriate, dilated toward apex and fornicate, irregularly imbricate; stamens 4-6, filaments slightly dilated, subcompressed, abruptly contracted at apex into connective, anthers much longer than connective, linear-elliptic, dehiscent by vertical slit; ovary ovoid, incompletely 2- or 3-celled, attenuate to the elongate style; ovules 1 per locule; stigma small, 2-5-parted. Berries obscurely 2-5-lobate. Seeds rounded-reniform, somewhat compressed.