172 CL. AROiDE^ (brown). [Rhektophyllum. 



13. KHEKTOPHYLLUM, N. E. Br. ; Benth. et Hook, 

 f. Gen. PI. iii. 981. 



Spathe closely convolute and cylindric in the lower part ; limb 

 deeply concave, oblong subacute. Spadix monoecious, free, sessile, 

 densely covered with flowers, without an appendix or neuter organs ; 

 male and female parts contiguous. Perianth none. Ovaries sub- 

 globose or angular from mutual pressure, one-celled ; stigma sessile or 

 subsessile, discoid. Ovule solitary, anatropous, affixed near the base or 

 towards the middle of a projecting parietal placenta. Anthers free, 

 sessile, cuneate-oblong, truncate ; cells parallel, linear, opening by 

 terminal pores. — A stout climber. Leaves with long petioles, perfo- 

 rated between the primary nerves, reticulately veined. Peduncles 2-4 

 together, terminal. 



An endemic, monotypic genus. 



1. R. mirabile, N. E. Br. in Journ. Bot. 1882, 195, t, 230. Stem 

 about an inch thick, climbing to a height of 30 ft., rooting. Leaves 

 glabrous; petiole |-2 ft. long, terete, grooved at the base in the adult 

 stage, shortly sheathing; blade G-18 in. long, 5-14 in. broad across 

 the basal lobes, hastate or cordate-hastate, cuspidate-acuminate or 

 shortly and rather abruptly acute, more or less sinuate along the 

 margins, in young plants or young shoots entire, dark green, variegated 

 with whitish between the primary veins in a pattern resembling the 

 tips of a fern frond ; in adult plants with large slit-like perforations 

 between the primary veins on each side of the midrib, green, without 

 variegation ; front lobe ovate or oblong-ovate ; basal lobes broadly 

 rhombic-ovate, or somewhat hatchet-shaped, very obtuse, with a broad, 

 open, very obtuse sinus between them ; primary lateral veins 3—4 on 

 each side of the midrib, stout, distant ; basal nerve with 2-4 branches, 

 denuded for 1-1 J in. in the sinus. Peduncles terminal, 2-4 together, 

 lJ-2 in. long, stout. Spathe 4 in. long, fleshy, green. Spadix a little 

 shorter than the spathe, about \ in. thick. Berries red, not seen. — 

 Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. ii. iii. 128 ; Engl. Jahrb. xv. 450, and 

 in Mitth. Deutsch. Schutzgeb. ii. 1889, 150 ; Durand & Schinz, 

 Consp. Fl. Afr. v. 475, and Etudes El. Congo, i. 276 ; De Wild. & 

 Durand, Contrib. Fl. Congo, i., fasc. 2, 65. Nephihytis picturatay 

 N. E. Br. in Card. Chron. 1887, i. 476 ; Durand <fc Schinz, Etudes FL 

 Congo, i. 277. 



Upper Guinea. Niger Ten itory ; Old Calabar, creeping on the ground, and 

 climbing on trees, Monteiro ! Caraeroons ; Rio del Key, Johnstoriy 2 ! in forest west 

 of Barombi-ba-Mbii, Preuss, 473 (ex Engler), Batanga, Braun (ex Evgler). Fer- 

 nando Po, Barter ! Mann, 101 ! 



XiO'vrer Guinea. Congo, cultivated specimens ! 



Sontb Central. Congo Tree State : Monbuttn ; in forest at Mbala stream 

 north of the River Kibali, Schweinfurth, 3621 (ex Ungler) ; Kamanga, Laurent (ex. 

 De Wildeman Sf Durand). 



A plant of Nephthytis picturata, caltivated at Kew, having developed a clinibing^ 



