| Field notes | Terrestrial herb in loose clump (to 20 cm between shoots) Leafy shoot c. 3 m long. Base of leafy shoot to c. 5 cm diam., reddish brown or purple Sheath yellowish to reddish brown. Ligule to 17 mm long, slightly bilobed, dark purple-brown. Petiole 2-3 cm long, dark purple. Lamina to 75 x 15 cm, elongated elliptic to narrowly ovate, midrib purple; beneath pale green, tinged purple, pubescent. Inflorescence from rhizome. Peduncle subterranean, to 13 cm long, ascending, scales reddish purple, darker at margin, mucronate. Spike 5-6 x 5-5.5 cm, flat-topped, half embedded in ground. Receptacle 17 mm long, pale pink, pink in centre. Fertile bract pale brownish orange at base and dark brown at margin and apex. Corolla tube pale red at base, red in upper part; lobes pink. Staminal tube red. Labellum pale pink, pink in centre and at margin (2-3 mm wide). Lateral lobes involute, terminal lobe red with a recurved margin. Filament pink. Anther pale pink. Stigma white. Flowers extended 2-2.5 cm above bracts. Infructescence to 7 x 11 cm (not including persistent calyces). Pedicel to 8 mm long. Fruit to 3 x 3 cm, pyriform, soft-spiny in upper half, reddish brown. Aril white, seeds black. Vernacular name: tikala (Kulawi or Lindu Language). Taste of lower shoot centre: pine. |
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