Greek amorphus – shapeless, phallus, referring to the unusual form of the flower.
Plants with hollowed underground corms each bearing scale leaves and a single large leaf with an erect stalk and a large inflorescence. Leaf blade with 3-5 or more divisions that are pinnately divided. Spathe bell - or funnel-shaped, generally shorter than the spadix. Spadix with a sterile appendix. Florets unisexual, zones immediately next to one another, without perianths. Stamens 6. Ovary with 1-4 chambers, each containing 1 ovule.
Grown for the spectacular and offensive-smelling flowers as a curiosity plant.
About 90 species from Old World tropics.
Cormlets.
Leaves palmate with 3 or 5 pinnate or pinnately lobed divisions; only 1 leaf present; spadix bisexual, male florets more or less touching.
Source: (2005). Araceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.