to be the only species belonging to its genus in culti- 
vation. 
Description.—Jlerb, over 3 ft. high, glabrous every- 
where. eaves triangular-sagittate, their petioles 13-34 
ft. long, sheathing at the base, armed throughout with 
spirally arranged tufts of spines, irregularly zonately 
marked with dull red or reddish-brown, or dark brown 
spots; laminae green above with red veins, dull purple 
underneath, the anterior lobe 7-11 in. long, 7-12 in. 
wide opposite the apex of the petiole, the posterior lobes 
widely diverging, 9-14 in. long, 33-6 in. wide in the 
middle, somewhat obliquely lanceolate-acuminate, the 
lowest pair of lateral nerves running close to the margin 
for 14-3 in. at the base of the sinus. Peduneles terete 
and aculeate like the petioles. Spathe erect, 6 in. long, 
1 in. across, oblong, long-acuminate, very concave, the 
margins incurved, outside dark violet and slightly polished, 
within dirty whitish-green faintly flushed with rose, at 
the base rosy purple. Spadix with a very short dark 
stalk, 34 in. long, } in. thick, cylindric, obtuse, at first 
greenish, ultimately pale violet. Sepals 5-6. Stamens 
ag ear oblong, 1-celled, tipped by the sessile stigma; _ 
ovules 2. 
Fig. 1, two flowers; 2, sepal and stamen; 3, stamen, seen from behind; 
4, ovary; 5, longitudinal section of an ovary, showing ovules:—all enlarged. 
