Rhodospatha monsalveae

Usually an appressed-climbing hemiepiphyte mostly to 2.5 m, rarely terrestrial as an adult; stems usually less than 1 m long; internodes short, mostly 3-5 cm diam. on adult plants (much smaller on pre-adult plants; juvenile plants with internodes to about 8 cm long, 4 mm diam.); the epidermis (where visible on the older part of the stem), green to gray turning light brown, deeply and conspicuously longitudinally sulcate and sharply ridged, with transverse fissures; cataphylls 16-53 cm long, drying light brown with loose, dark brown margins leaves held more or less erect; petioles sheathed to the geniculum, 22-62 cm long, pale green to medium green, minutely pale-speckled, drying usually reddish brown, sometimes yellowish brown, sometimes irregularly and deeply fissured on drying (the surface densely granular with raphid cells on magnification); sheath drying dark brown, usually deciduous or with some pieces adhering along its length; geniculum sharply and broadly V-sulcate 2-4 cm long, sometimes with a weak, spreading wing on the margins; blades subcoriaceous, at middle or slightly above the middle, (1.8)2.8-3.8 times longer than wide (averaging more than 3 times longer than wide), 1.1-2.0 times longer than petioles (averaging 1.5 times longer than petiole), obtuse and acuminate to abruptly acuminate at apex, acute to somewhat rounded and somewhat attenuate at base (both apex and base more or less equilateral), semiglossy,slightly to conspicuously bicolorous, dark green above, moderately to much paler beneath, drying usually grayish green above, dark reddish brown below, sometimes dark brown above, yellowish brown below; midrib much paler and deeply sunken and marginally discolored in a band 3-5 mm wide along either side of midrib above, prominently raised and thicker than broad below, drying minutely granular on magnification; primary lateral veins to 50-60(83) pairs, 5-14 mm apart, mostly less than 10 mm apart, sunken above, raised below, drying somewhat lighter than surface below, arising at an angle of 60-85 degrees and only weakly curved to the margins (sometimes arising at an acute angle or in a narrow curve before spreading to the margin); interprimary veins usually 1 per pair of primary lateral veins, drying inconspicuously darker than or lighter than surface; minor veins mostly 1-2 between each pair of interprimary and primary lateral veins, sparsely granular on magnification; cross-veins oblique, weak to prominulous, more prominent toward the margins, usually branched, sometimes forming reticulate veins; the surface moderately glossy, moderately densely dark granular on magnification. INFLORESCENCE erect; peduncle 26-30 cm long, ca. 1 cm diam.; spathe greenish white, somewhat yellower toward the margins, white inside, 14-28 cm long, to 4.7 cm diam. (unfurled), to 8 cm wide when flattened, long, oblong-elliptic and narrowly long-acuminate before opening; spadix white to cream, yellow or yellowish tan, pale orange to pale purple-violet or reddish, becoming green post-anthesis (6) 11-20.5 cm long, 9-15 mm diam., stipitate to 1-3 cm, moderately tapered to a bluntly acute at apex, becoming pale green post-anthesis; pistils mostly irregularly and smoothly to acutely 6-sided, frequently rhombic, sometimes appearing almost rounded, 1.4-1.8 mm diam., sometimes broader than long, the margins straight to convex or weakly sigmoid; style drying brownish and truncate at apex; sides of the pistils brown, sparsely warty; stigmas raised, drying black and shiny, oblong to oblong-elliptic to elliptic, 0.6-1.4 mm long, 0.2-0.5 mm wide, depressed medially, becoming somewhat rounded in fruit and often funnelform; anthers 0.6-0.8 mm long, 0.5 mm wide; sterile flowers only a few at the base of spadix (but at least one post-anthesis inflorescence with up to 3 cm of the spadix eaten away). INFRUCTESCENCE to 23 cm long, 2 cm diam.; seeds reniform to rounded and flattened, 1-1.1 mm long, 0.8-1 mm diam., tan.