| Field notes | Terrestial herb in dense clump of 18 shoots. Leafy shoot to 6.7 m long. Base of leafy shoot to 7 cm diam., brown. Sheath brownish green. Ligule bilobed, dentate to 7 mm long. Petiole to 2 cm at uppermost leaf. Lamina to 92 x 16 cm, mid-green. Inflorescence subterranean, to 2.5 m long; scales cream to pale pink. Calyx reddish with pale yellow-green apex; lobes cream, pale greenish to rose: Labellum white, centre red at base, white in upper 6 mm, crest white. Stigma red. Fruit 3 x 3.5cm, cream (green where exposed). Vernacular name: baku tondo (Dondo language). Used medicinally mixed with coconut juice to treat sick childrren. Material in spirit. DNA sampled. |