Araceae
Alocasia chaii P.C.Boyce
SUMMARY
Small robust herb to ca 40 cm tall, stem shortly erect to decumbent, eventually forming a short rhizome; wild plants with rather few leaves (up to 4, usually less), cultivated plants with several leaves (up to 7); petioles stout, ca 20 cm long, sheathing in the lower ca 1/4, puberulent, pale green with scattered deep red spots and speckles in the lower half; sheath persistent, more or less closed; lamina broadly ovato-elliptic, up to 40 cm long but frequently much less and typically reaching c. 23 cm x 10−15, exceptionally up to 25 cm wide, thickly coriaceous to subsucculent, almost completely peltate save for a shallow retuse notch between the tips of the connate posterior lobes, margins reflexed to form a raised smooth rim abaxially, apex acute to obtuse and mucronate for ca 1 cm, lamina adaxially pale matt grey, abaxially greenish white, anterior costa with 1−3 primary lateral veins on each side, diverging at ca 90° (proximal ones) to 30° (distal ones); primary veins adaxially somewhat raised proximally to the mid-rib and impressed distally, flush to very slightly impressed with deep red axillary glands abaxially; secondary venation impressed adaxially, more or less flush with the lamina abaxially, forming defined interprimary collective veins when fresh, this decidedly obscure in dried material; posterior lobes about 1/3 – 1/4 the length of the anterior, with the posterior costae diverging at ca 30°; inflorescences several together (up to 4 on vigorous plants), each subtended by a short, broad prophyll and a single cataphyll; peduncle short, more or less hidden within cataphyll; spathe ca 7 cm long, externally white with a scattered red flecks on the lower part, interior uniformly glossy white; lower spathe 2.5−3.5 cm long, ovoid, separated from limb by a rather weak oblique constriction; limb erect even after anthesis, narrowly lanceolate-triangular, 3−5 cm long; spadix ca 2/3 the length of the spathe, ca 4.5 cm long, briefly stipitate; stipe cylindrical, ca 2−5 mm tall, glossy white; female zone about 1/4 of the length of the spadix, pistils moderately densely arranged; ovaries ovoid, ca 1.5 mm diam., facing diagonally up, pale greenish white; style more or less absent; stigma white, single, bilobed, sometimes trilobed (all variations present in a single inflorescence); sterile interstice absent or represented by a few (less than 5) synandrodia; male zone held entirely within the lower spathe, cylindric to barrel-shaped, about 1/4 the length of the spadix, about 2/5 as wide as long, ivory; synandria densely arranged, more or less square in plan view, ca 1.5 mm wide, the thecae very slightly overtopped by synconnective; appendix about 1/3 of the length of the spadix, narrowly conic; fruiting spathe broadly ovoid, c. 2.5 cm long, erect, glossy brilliant magenta with a few scattered darker spots and streaks at fruit maturation, then splitting longitudinally into several unequal strips, these reflexing to reveal the ripe berries; berries bright orange to red, globose, ca 0.5 cm diam., each with 1-3 seeds; seeds, ca 3mm diam., pace brown.