34 
VAUGHAN MacCAUGHEY 
The rhizome is very soft, and can be severed by a single machete 
stroke. It contains a considerable quantity of crude starch, together 
with numerous conspicuous fibers. It frequently contains colonies 
of endophytic algse. It is closely pressed to the wet soil, but is not 
subterranean; it roots freely along the entire undersurface. The 
older, naked portions of the rhizome are green and conspicuously 
marked with the large petiole scars. No bark is developed. The 
apical region, 18-24 inches long, is usually more or less erect, depending 
upon the situation ; sometimes, as near a stream-bed, the rhizome stands 
erect to a height of three or four feet. The entire length of the rhizome 
is generally not over six or eight feet; its frequent branching and the 
decay of the older parts tend to separate an old rhizome into several 
shorter new individuals. This vegetative reproduction, quite similar 
to that of many ferns, is the common mode of propagation after 
the plant has once established itself. 
The petioles are thick, fleshy, and curiously muricate; they are 
three to four inches in diameter, and two to four feet long. The 
broad, fleshy stipules, i-ij in. long, are adnate to the base of the 
petiole. The blade is orbicular or rounded-reniform. It stands at 
right angles to the petiole.. Its attachment is peltate, but there is a 
broad, open, basal sinus. It is very thick and fleshy, and deeply 
rugose. Gray states that the blades are ft. in diam. when 
full grown"; Hillebrand, that they are "2-3 ft. in width"; both of 
these are underestimates, and evidently based upon the examination 
of herbarium material, rather than a knowledge of the plant in the 
field. Leaves that are fully expanded are commonly three to four 
feet in diameter, and Bryan records a diameter of five feet. 
The blade is more or less conspicuously eight- to ten-lobed, the 
lobes being very shallow, rounded and coarsely dentate. On its 
upper surface the blade is covered with coarse, short hairs; the under 
surface has a strong network of prominent veins. There are five 
large veins, pedately arranged ; the venation is dichotomous, and more 
or less hispid with short, coarse hairs. A variety beta, collected by the 
U. S. Exploring Expedition on Kauai, and described by Asa Gray, 
has nearly glabrous foliage, with "bracts ovate or oblong, 6-8 mm. 
long." 
The main flowering season is mid-summer, although there seems to 
be considerable variation. The panicles are terminal. The rachis is 
2-3 ft. tall, hirsute and scabrous, branching from near the base, and 
