Xanthosoma sagittifolium

X. sagittifolium is a glabrous, erect, herb up to 2 m tall, acaulescent when young, mature plants with a thick, erect, fleshy stem up to 1 m long, these with numerous leaf scars and sometimes with aerial roots, the base enlarged, ovoid, producing lateral, elongated subterranean, edible tubers or corms. Leaves several, nearly in a rosette in acaulescent plants, or in a distal crown in mature plants;blades horizontal to slightly nodding, with the posterior lobes ascending, 40-100 ? 40-70 cm, simple, upper surface dark green with light green primary and secondary veins, lower surface light green, with dark green venation, the apex obtuse, ending in an acute point, the base cordate with non-overlapping lobes, the lowest pair of secondary veins surrounded by marginal tissue at their insertion with the petiole, the margins undulate;petioles erect, 1-1.5 m long, green, invaginate on lower 2/3, with straight, wavy or sometimes involute margins. Inflorescences 1-3, axillary, ascending;peduncles up to 20 cm long;spathe chartaceous, 13-15 cm long, the tube 6-7 cm long, grayish green, oblong-ovoid, the blade elliptic, erect, concave, adaxially cream to white, shortly acuminate at apex;spadix slightly shorter than the spathe, the pistillate zone cylindrical, the sterile staminate zone conical, pinkish, the fertile staminate zone elongated, ellipsoid, cream. Fruit a small, yellow berry (Acevedo-Rodr’guez and Strong, 2005;Langeland et al., 2008).