虎掌 hu zhang

Arisaema cochinchinense Blume; Pinellia cochinchinensis (Blume) W. Wight; P. tuberifera Tenore var. pedatisecta (Schott) Engler; P. wawrae Engler.

Tuber subglobose, to 4 cm in diam., with some surrounding tubercles. Leaves 1-3 or more; petiole greenish, 20-70 cm, proximally sheathing; leaf blade pedate; leaflets 6-11, sessile, lanceolate, base cuneate, apex acuminate; central leaflet 15-18.3 cm, following ones smaller; outermost ones 4-5 cm; primary lateral veins 7-12 per side, forming an inner collective vein and an outer second collective vein near margin. Inflorescence including peduncle 20-50 cm, green; peduncle to 35 cm. Spathe slightly convolute at base, green outside, greenish to whitish inside, lanceolate in total, not constricted between tube and limb, inside transverse septum absent, 10-19 × 1.5-2 cm, apex long acuminate. Spadix 14-20 cm; female zone 1.5-3 cm, adnate to spathe; female flowers very densely arranged; pistil 2.1-2.2 mm; ovary green, obovoid, ca. 1.9 × 1.2-1.3 mm; stigma subsessile, white, spherical, papillose; sterile zone between female and male flowers short, 4-5 mm; male zone cylindric, 5-8 mm; thecae yellow, elongate, ca. 1.3 mm, opening by a slit; appendix suberect, greenish to whitish, ± cylindric, 10-15 cm, 2-3 mm in diam. at base, distally becoming filiform. Berries pale to whitish green, ovoid, 4-5 × 3-5 mm, 1-seeded. Seed brown, obovoid, ca. 3.5 × 2.5 mm; funicle robust. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 26*.

● Forests, valleys, shaded areas; below 1000 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, NE Yunnan, Zhejiang.

Pinellia pedatisecta is the only species of Pinellia with always pedate leaf blades and lacking the transverse septum inside its spathe. It is easily distinguished from other species by having a spathe lacking a constriction between the tube and blade.

The poisonous tubers are used in medicine for treating enlarged lymph nodes and urinary tract infections.