B. floccifera

Culture

Cultural Requirements

Warm humid conditions

Endangered Status

VU B1 ab

Original Botanical Description or Link to

Monoecious, acaulescent, rhizomatous, perennial herb; usually growing on rocks directly exposed to sunlight, 50–70 cm tall including inflorescence. Rhizomes brown, stout, fleshy, 5– 30 cm, nodes 5–20 mm apart, brown tomentose on young parts, leaf scars prominent. Stipules persistent, symmetrical, oblong, keeled, c.5 × 2 cm, reddish at keel, base truncate, apex caudate, margins entire, abaxially sparsely tomentose, adaxially glabrous. Leaves distichous; petioles 8–22 cm long, pale green to reddish brown, rarely with reddish blotches, upper surface slightly grooved, densely tomentose when young, glabrous at maturity; lamina basifixed, suborbicular, 17–28 × 11–20 cm, broader than long, base asymmetrically cordate, lamina lobes slightly overlapping, apex acute, obtuse when mature, dark green above, pale green below, margins dentate to subentire, densely tomentose above when young, glabrous or glabrescent at maturity, densely tomentose below; veins 8–10, palmate to pinnate. Inflorescence bisexual, axillary, dichotomously branched at base, male flowers basal and female flowers distal; peduncle terete, c.60 cm long, brownish red, densely tomentose; primary bracts caducous, ovate, c.6 × 4 mm, pale green, base truncate, apex acute to obtuse, margins entire, sparsely tomentose; secondary bracts persistent, linear to lanceolate, c.2.5– 5.5 × 0.4–1.2 mm, pale pink to pale green, base truncate, apex acuminate, margins entire, sparsely tomentose. Male flowers: pedicels 8–10 mm long, pale pink, with sparse tomentose hairs; tepals 2, broadly ovate, c.8 × 7 mm, white, base rounded, apex acute, margins entire, glabrous; androecium symmetrical, stamens up to 25, free, arranged on a torus, filaments c.1 mm long, yellow; anthers broadly obovate in outline, c.1 mm long, apex rounded, dehiscing through longitudinal slits. Female flowers: pedicels c.5 mm long, white to pale pink, glabrous; bracteoles 2, filiform, c.2.7–3 × 0.4–0.5 mm, pale pink to greenish, base truncate, apex acuminate, margins entire, sparsely tomentose to glabrous; tepals 4, ovate to elliptic, 4–5 × 2–3 mm, base truncate, apex acute, margins entire, glabrous; ovary c.1 cm long, 3-winged; wings subequal, broadest at middle, c.10 × 5 mm; locules 3; placentae undivided, axile; styles 3, straight, c.3 mm long, yellow, one-third fused, each stylodium bifurcate at the stigmatic region, stigmatic band wavy, not twisted. Fruit a capsule, pendent on slender pedicel, wings 3, subequal, c.12 × 5 mm, papery with persistent tepals and style, apex and base rounded, dehiscent on both sides of the wings; seeds numerous, obovoid, c.0.37 × 0.21 mm.