(Last Modified On 10/25/2012)
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(Last Modified On 10/25/2012)
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Genus
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RHODOSPATHA Poepp.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Nov. Gen. Sp. 3:91. 1845.
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Description
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Plants epiphytic, more or less scandent and rooting at the nodes; leaves dis- tichous, the petiole about equaling the blade, long-vaginate, geniculate below the base of the blade; blades oblong to oblong-elliptic, slightly unequal at the base, the primary and secondary lateral nerves numerous, slender, subparallel, spreading or acutely ascending, arcuate near the margin; peduncles much shorter than the leaves, the spathe broadly ovate or oblong-ovate, abruptly cuspidate, longitudinally nerved, greenish outside, white or pink within, soon deciduous; spadix stipitate or sessile, cylindric, densely many-flowered, sometimes with only pistillate flowers at the base, but most of the flowers perfect; flowers naked, the stamens 4, the fila- ments rather broad, complanate, narrowed to the slender, acuminate connective; anthers rather broad, the cells elliptic, longer than the connective, dehiscent by lateral slits; ovary 4-angled, 2-celled, the ovules several or numerous in each cell, amphitropous; style thicker than the ovary, the stigma linear or rarely 2- or 3- lobate; berries small, cylindric-prismatic, truncate, 10- to 12-seeded; seeds attached by short funicles, vertically imbricate, rounded-reniform, lentiform, the testa minutely verruculose.
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Distribution
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A genus of a dozen species, widely dispersed in tropical America. Four species are recorded from Central America.
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