Herbs, 1-2 m tall. Stem long creeping and stoloniferous, erect or ascending, ca. 2.5 cm in diam., internodes with stout prickles. Petiole 32-125 cm, laxly prickly, sometimes almost smooth; pulvinus 15-35 mm, aculeate; leaf blade very variable, sagittate-hastate, 35-65 × 20-60 cm, simple or divided; anterior lobe entire or pedate to near midrib, acuminate; posterior lobes strongly downwardly directed to subspreading, once or twice bifid with 3 or 4 narrow to rather long acute or acuminate lateral segments; primary lateral veins 2-4, strong, secondary lateral veins thinner, higher order veins very numerous, all venation flush above, abaxially with rather small, straight to slightly curved prickles. Peduncle to 47 cm, laxly prickly. Spathe dull orange to black-red outside, dull yellow to rarely dull crimson inside, 18-35 cm with caudate part to 28 cm, proximally widened, very much shorter, 3-10 cm wide. Stipe of spadix obscure; spadix cylindric, 3-5 cm, in fruit elongated to 8 cm. Tepals oblong, 1.5-3 mm, apex triangular hooded, keeled. Filaments ca. 1.5 × 0.8 mm; anthers ca. 0.8 × 0.8 mm. Ovary ovoid, ca. 1.5 mm high. Fruit obpyramidal, ca. 1 cm wide, densely warty-aculeate, sides unarmed, when dry irregularly ribbed, apex truncate. Seed ovoid-cordate, 5-7 mm. Fl. Jul-Sep.
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A big leafy herb. It often has a creeping rhizome. It grows to 40-120 cm high. The stems are thorny. Leaves grow out of the ground. They are sword shaped or with lobes extending three-quarters of the way to the midrib. The leaves are thorny along the veins. Leaves are 30-45 cm long and 25 cm wide. The leaf stalk is 25-50 cm long. Leaves are medium green. The leaf like structure around the flower is twisted and opens out only at the base. It is 15-30 cm long and brown. The flowers occur tightly together without flower stalks. The flowers have both sexes. They are like a cylinder and 2-3 cm long by 7.5 mm wide. They increase to three times this size. The fruit is green, fleshy and spiny. It is composed of a berry which is oval and has a sharp point at the top. It is 1 cm long. The seed are 5 mm long and 3.5 mm wide.
A tropical plant. It is found in moist shady areas along rivers in evergreen forest. It grows in swampy places and wetlands. It can tolerate slightly brackish water. It needs a temperature between 25-35°C. In Papua New Guinea it grows from sea level to 500 m altitude. In Vietnam it grows from sea level to 1,000 m above sea level. In Yunnan.
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Swamps, riverbanks, ditches, moist places in tropical and subtropical forests at elevations below 1,500 metres in China.
Young leaves are eaten as vegetables. They must be cooked or fermented to remove the bitter and poisonous hydrocyanic acid. (This breaks down with cooking) The fruit are eaten after being put in salt water (brine). The leaf stalks are peeled and used in curries to add flavour. The flower spadix is cooked as a vegetable. The harvested flowers can be stored for 7 days. The tubers are peeled then eaten after boiled. The corms can be stored for long periods in dry, well ventilated rooms. Leaves can be stored for 3 days.
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