小南星 xiao nan xing

Plants dioecious. Tuber globose, 1.2-1.8 cm. Cataphylls 3-4.5 cm, acute. Leaf solitary; petiole green, 6-18 cm, smooth, base forming pseudostem; leaf blade 3-foliolate; central leaflet obovate or obcordate, 1.8-5.5 × 2-6 cm, base cuneate usually with red margins, apex truncate or concave, with a short acumen; lateral leaflets obliquely ovate, 3-8 × 3-7 cm, acuminate. Peduncle green, shorter than petioles, 5-12 cm, smooth. Spathe tube color rather demarcated between dark purple (or dark carmine) proximal part and greenish distal part with whitish stripes, cylindric, 1.5-3.5 × 1.3-1.5 cm, throat obliquely truncate, not recurved; limb greenish, broadly lanceolate, 3-6 × ca. 3.5 cm, apex acute or acuminate, incurved. Spadix unisexual; male zone ca. 6 mm; synandria stipitate; anthers usually 2, yellow, dehiscing by horseshoe-shaped slit; appendix shorter than spathe, 5-6 cm, slender, base suddenly expanded into a disk, stipitate, distally recurved. Female spadix unknown. Fl. May-Jun.

● Alpine grasslands, meadows; 3000-3600 m. W Sichuan (Kangding), SE Xizang, Yunnan (Dali, Luquan, Yangbi).