1011

Lagenandra toxicaria  Dalz 

Family	:	Araceae
Local name	:	Malayalam-Neerchengazhi
Flowering and fruiting period	:	Throughout the year
Distribution	:	Southern Western Ghats .
Distribution in kerala	:	All Districts
Habitat	:	Along streams
Key Botanical Characters. :  Rhizomatous creeping procumbent or erect evergreen herbs; . Leaves , oblong-acuminate, venation pinnately parallel, venation involute ;petiole cylindrical basally sheathing for ..Inflorescence with a short peduncle  Spathe ca. 13-15 cm long, divisible into a basal tubular portion, a middle broad limb, and a terminal tapering caudate portion; light greenish pink or pinkish cream in colour, outer surface smooth;  purplish with darker vertical ridges inside; limb ca. 3 cm long, 1.5 cm diameter, slightly laterally compressed with closely and irregularly oriented, dark purplish, light-tipped densely fimbriate ridges; terminal caudation about 6 cm long. Spadix very small, . with basal pistillate portion followed by a slender a staminate portion, and terminating into a short barren appendix. Pistillate flowers ., closely oriented forming a subglobose or subcylindric mass, each flower ca. 2 vmm high, 1 mm diameter, more or less truncate, muricate on outside on the upper half. Oary unilocular with .orthotropous ovules, and unicellular placental hairs; stigma sessile, hexagonal with slightly raised central portion. Few small, white, clavate, olfactory bodies or neuter flowers present just above the pistillate portion around the base of the interstice and sometimes one or two on the interstice below the staminate portion. each flower . high, each theca with a short apical horn-like tube through which pollen grains liberate out. Spadix -appendix ., broadly conical with apical tapering pointed tip by which the spadix is attached to the roof of the tube. Fruit a more or less fleshy capsule.