东台南星 dong tai nan xing

Plants dioecious. Tuber depressed globose, 3-6 cm in diam. Cataphylls purplish to brownish, membranous, apex mucronate. Leaf solitary; petiole terete, 25-50 cm, proximally forming pseudostem; leaf blade pedate; leaflets 11-15, oblanceolate to elliptic, base cuneate, apex acuminate; central leaflet 10-28 × 2-7.5 cm. Peduncle usually shorter than petioles, 15-35 cm. Spathe white or pale yellow with dark to bronze-purple or reddish purple stripes; tube white or pale yellow with longitudinal purple stripes outside and dark purple stripes inside, cylindric, auriculate at throat, 5-7 × 2-2.5 cm; limb triangular-ovate, 7-10 × 4-5 cm, apex acute to acuminate. Spadix unisexual; female zone cylindric, 1.5-2 cm; male zone 3-4 cm; synandria stipitate, consisting of 4 anthers, thecae dehiscing from lateral slits. Appendix long exserted from spathe, filiform, 40-60 cm, proximally narrowly cylindric, smooth, gradually narrowed at both ends, distally bent downward and pendulous. Fl. May-Jul.

● Forests, thickets; near sea level to 1100 m. E and N Taiwan.

A Chinese record of Arisaema thunbergii subsp. urashima (H. Hara) H. Ohashi & J. Murata from Taiwan (J. C. Wang, Taiwania 37: 54-57. 1992) is referable to A. thunbergii subsp. autumnale.