Amorphophallus

Acaulescent herbs, parts above ground deciduous; roots long, swollen. Stem usually a subglobose tuber. Leaves solitary, subtended by several basal cataphylls; petiole cylindrical, lacking apical pulvinus, usually smooth, often conspicuously spotted; lamina tripartite, all 3 segments erect in bud, each dividing subpinnately; pinnae decurrent. Inflorescence usually produced before leaves; peduncle usually shorter than petiole. Spathe convolute basally, upper portion usually expanded, reflexed at anthesis, deciduous. Spadix shorter or longer than spathe; basal portion pistillate, apical portion staminate, male zone contiguous with or separated from female zone by a short naked interstice; apical portion produced into a naked appendix. Flowers densely congested on spadix, without perianth segments. Male flowers with many, densely congested stamens; anthers subsessile or on broad filaments, dehiscing by apical pores or transverse slits. Female flowers with or without staminodes; ovary 1-4-locular, subglobose; ovule solitary, anatropous; style absent or elongated; stigma subglobose or variously lobed. Fruit a berry, globose, 1-3-seeded. Seeds ovoid, smooth; without endosperm. x= 7, 13.