Terrestrial plants, growing in swamps, the rhizome horizontal or vertical, spongy; leaves basal, few, the petioles elongate, vaginate only at the base, smooth or verrucose, the blade sagittate, the primary lateral nerves ascending at a narrow angle, the secondary nerves transverse and reticulate; peduncle terminal, equaling or longer than the leaves; spathe erect, usually colored outside, whitish within, convolute below, open at the middle and above, the limb usually long-attenuate, contorted, and persistent; spadix short-stipitate or sessile, much shorter than the spathe, densely many-flowered, bearing near the base sterile flowers similar to the fertile ones but smaller; flowers perfect, perigoniate; sepals 4-6, fornicate, sub-truncate at the apex; stamens 4-6, the filaments rather broad, compressed, abruptly contracted at the apex into the connective, scarcely longer than the ovary; anthers longer than the connective, the cells ovate-elliptic, dehiscent by an extrorse, apical slit; pistil truncate-conic, incompletely 2-celled, the ovules 2 or more in each cell, attached by long funicles; berry 2-celled, surrounded by the accrescent perianth, by abortion 1-or 2-seeded.
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