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Botanical name: Arisaema wattii Family: Araceae (Arum family)
Synonyms: Arisaema biauriculatum, Arisaema auriculatum (nom. illeg.) Eared Cobra Lily is a perennial herb with
inflorescence emerging before leaves. The inflorescence is quite
similar to
Pitcher Cobra Lily.
Flower-cluster-stalk is as long as leaf-stalks. Spathe is purplish
brown or purplish green, 11-13 cm in total; tube cylindric, 4.5-6.5 x
1-2 cm, throat margins with prominent horizontal ear 1.5-2.5 cm wide;
limb broadly ovate, 6-7 x 3.5-5 cm, base slightly constricted, tip
shortly tapering. Spadix is unisexual; female zone conic, 1.5-2 x about
1 cm; male zone 1.5-3 cm. Appendix is erect, whitish green, cylindric,
2.5-4.5 cm x 4.5-5 mm, base flat with a stipe 5-7 mm, middle part
slightly constricted, tip blunt. The tuber is depressed spherical,
2.3-5 cm in diameter. Cataphylls 3 or 4, green or violet, with purplish
spots, 15-20 cm, tip pointed or blunt. Leaves are 2; leaf-stalk
yellow-green with dark brown spots consisting of tiny striae, finally
to 60 cm, proximal 1/3-1/2 forming pseudostem. Leaves are 3-foliolate;
leaflets stalkless, green; central leaflet elliptic, 15-30 x 4-10 cm,
base wedge-shaped, tip tapering; lateral leaflets narrowly obovate,
oblique, as long as central one, base eared, rounded on outer side,
narrowly wedge-shaped on inner side. Berries are red, seeds 4, ovoid.
Eared Cobra Lily is found in mixed broad-leaved forests, mossy
evergreen forests, grassy slopes at altitudes of 2100-3300 m, in SE
Xizang, Yunnan, NE India, NE Myanmar. Flowering: April-May.
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