Stenospermation
(from stenos, narrow, and spermation, a diminutive of sperma, a seed; in allusion to the slender seeds). ORD. Aroideae (Araceae). A genus consisting of about seven species of stove herbs or sub-shrubs, natives of tropical America. Flowers all hermaphrodite; spathe navicular, convolute, at length opening, wholly deciduous; spadix long-stipitate, inappendiculate, much shorter than the spathe, cylindrical; peduncle terminal, straight. Leaves distichous, coriaceous, lanceolate, acuminate; petioles short or elongated, sometimes sheathing along their whole length. Caudex elongated, creeping, or rooting at the nodes. S. pompayanense, the only species introduced, requires culture similar to Spathiphyllum (which see).
S. pompayanense (Pompayan). fl., spathe ivory-white, boat-shaped, long-cuspidate; spadix suffused with white, about 2in. long. l. elliptic-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, slightly obtuse at base; petioles half to three-quarters the length of the blades, sheathed above the middle. Caudex ascending. h. 1ft. Pompayan Andes, 1875. Evergreen perennial. SYNS. S. Wallisii (B. M. 6334 and G. C. 1875, 116-7), Spathiphyllum Wallisii. S. Wallisii (Wallis'). A synonym of S. pompayanense.