| General Information |
| Distribution | Widespread in tropical America, from Mexico south through Central America to Bolivia.In the Hawaiian Islands,
naturalized on
Kaua`i, O`ahu, Maui.
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Habit
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Climbing vine-like, herbaceous perennials, sometimes glaucous, sap milky, juvenile phase usually terrestrial, adult phase hemiepiphytic.
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Leaves
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Juvenile leaves with sagittate blades entire, 10-12 x 4-6 cm, often pale green or silver colored along costa and veins; adult leaves with petioles to 50 cm long, the blades pedately divided into 3-11 mostly free and shortly stalked or with somewhat united segments, middle segment obovate to broadly elliptic, 12-24 x 3-8 cm, base acute, apex acuminate, basal (lateral) segments often lobed at base.
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Flowers
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Inflorescences 4-11 per leaf axil, to 22 cm long, each subtended by a slightly shorter chartaceous prophyll, peduncle 7-12 cm long, spathe 8-11 cm long, tube yellowish to green, limb cream, long tapering; spadix of female section 1-2 cm long, greenish cream, of male section 3-4 cm long, 0.8 cm diam., cream.
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Fruit
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Fruiting spathe pendent, 4-8 cm long, red to yellow, seeds embedded in soft grayish pulp.
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Seeds
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Seeds ovoid, 8-10 mm long, black-brown.
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Contributor
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David Lorence
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