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inflorescences c. 50 x 10 cm (incl. 6 cm claw), fully reduced in uppermost partial 
inflorescences; partial inflorescences each comprising up to 17 branches at basal 
levels (occasionally two branches connate at base; fewer towards the apex of the 
inflorescence), branches arising simultaneously from the axil of the subtending bract, 
lateral branches progressively shorter in length (outermost lateral branches 1/2- 2/3 of 
the median branch), median branches at basal levels usually further branched, 20-30 
cm long (10-25 cm long in upper levels). Female flowers scattered, solitary or in 
pairs, sessile, all with an associated minute bract and bracteole; perianth composed 
of 6 tepals in two whorls tightly clasping ovary/fruit in fresh material, all tepals 
with prominent bulbous thickening at base (more prominent in outer whorl), light 
green, margin c. 0.2-0.3 mm wide, hyaline translucent white; outer tepals broadly 
ovate, 2.5-3 mm long, c. 2.8-3 mm broad, connate at base (only 0.3 mm), sparsely 
arachnoid; inner tepals almost circular, c. 3 mm long, 3-3.2 mm broad, free to base, 
almost glabrous; staminodes 6, in two whorls, pale green to cream white, triangular, 
outer staminodes , 0.3-0.4 mm long, 0.2-0.3 mm broad at base, inner staminodes 
longer, narrowly triangular, c. 1 mm long, 0.2-0.3 mm at base, each basally sheathed 
with a broad narrow scale (often shallowly bilobed), c. 0.8-0.9 mm long, and c. 1.2 
mm broad, brown with translucent margin, stigma 3-lobed, c. 1.5 mm in diam., each 
lobe 0.8-1 mm long (fruiting material), broadly ovate with round apex, lobes connate 
basally, with points of connation seen as grooves, matte dark brown (fruiting stage); 
position of stigma in ripe fruits strongly oblique (only a single seed ever develops). 
Ripe fruit with pink blush externally (ripe fruit appears dirty green-pink or green- 
brown as the dark seed colour is visible through the increasingly translucent pulp), 
globose, 5-7 mm diam.; pulp 0.7-1 mm thick, pale yellow, fairly hard, ripening from 
cream-white with bright pink blush, to dirty pale yellow with dull pink tinge; seeds 
1 per fruit (2 seeds in a single fruit have not been observed), c. 5 x 4 mm, brown, 
deeply bowl-shaped with slightly incurved margins, with a small broadly bluntly acute 
appendage positioned on the distal part of the rim, cavity filled with placental tissue. 
Distribution. Both the historic and recent collections of this species in Singapore 
are from the northern parts of the Central Catchment Nature Reserve or locations 
immediately adjacent to it. The species is now only found in the Nee Soon Freshwater 
Swamp-forest (NSFS). One historic collection locality, Seletar, has likely been 
deforested, but the locality name was used for a larger swamp-forest complex that 
was once connected to NSFS (O’Dempsey & Chew, 2013). In Peninsular Malaysia 
the species has been recorded from two localities in Johor, Hutan Simpanan Lenggor, 
Mersing and Hutan Lipur Panti, Kota Tinggi (Siti Nurfazilah et al., 2010). 
Ecology & phenology. In Singapore Hanguana podzolicola is strictly a swamp-forest 
species, occurring in locations with permanently wet or flooded soil in NSFS. The 
only other species recorded there, Hanguana rubinea, occurs in drier locations. The 
two are only occasionally sympatric at the edges of the swamp forest (Upper Seletar 
and southern end of NSFS). Based on historical collections and our observations, the 
species flowers early in the year (c. March) and fruits ripen by July-August. 
