Japanese name: リュウキュウハンゲ（琉球半夏） Scientific name:Typhonium blumei
[Overview]
A perennial 15–30 cm tall.
It has a corm.
2–5 leaves grow from the base; each is an ovate arrowhead shape, shallowly 3-lobed, 5–15 cm long and 5–10 cm wide, with the side lobes spreading slightly.
The leaf stalk is 5–30 cm long.
A spadix is borne at the tip of a flower stalk 4–12 cm long, and the inflorescence, including the appendage, is 12–18 cm long.
The spadix is enclosed in a purplish brown spathe, whose blade is narrowly ovate with a tail-like pointed tip and 8–15 cm long.
The appendage of the spadix is purplish brown and extends like a tail up to 8–15 cm long.
The fruit is an ovoid berry.
[Uses]
It is poisonous, but in China and Okinawa the corm is used externally as a folk medicine.
