ABSTRACT:

The monotypic genus Aphyllarum was erected in 1895 by Spencer Moore to accommodate a leafless aroid he collected in Mato Grosso state, Central-western Brazil. For more than 70 years the only species of the genus (A. tuberosum) was not recollected until an Anglo-Brazilian team of botanists finally found it in a second location. Although more information could be obtained from these new collections, fresh flowers were neither observed nor preserved, so important aspects of the floral morphology were still missing for a critical analysis of this elusive genus. In the last decade of the 20th Century, Aphyllarum was finally considered a synonym of Caladium Vent. but many lacunae on flower morphology were left unfilled owing the the lack of good flowering material. In 2006, living material of this species were collected and kept in cultivation for the first time, where it flowered and made possible a critical analysis of floral morphology, here described and illustrated. The presence of a coherent style was finally confirmed, but it seems to be essentially different of the morphology seen in Xanthosoma, and more similar to structures found in other recently described species of Caladium.