Description:

• 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

Nomenclature:

• Amorphophallus Blume ex Decne.
  • Decaisne: 366 (1834)
  • Brown: 144 (1901)
  • Engler: 61 (1911)
  • Mayo: 28 (1985)
  • Mayo et al.: 235 (1997) name conserved

Distribution & Notes:

• Global: Species ± 100, occurring throughout the Old World tropics
• Southern Africa: Species 1: Amorphophallus abyssinicus (A.Rich.) N.E.Br., only in Namibia (Caprivi Strip), but widespread in Africa