Sauromatum

a genus of plants of the family Araceae. The plants are perennial herbs with an underground tuber and one large dissected leaf, which dies in the dry season. The plant flowers after the dormant period preceding the appearance of a new leaf. The inflorescence—a spadix on a short pedicel—is surrounded by a spathe with an inflated tube and elongate-lanceolate plate, which is usually speckled. At the base of the spadix there are tiny unisexual flowers, and at the tip there is a sterile, cylindrical dark purple appendage. The inflorescence has a putrid odor, which attracts insect pollinators. There are six species of Sauromatum, distributed in tropical Africa, India, Indochina, and the islands of the Malay Archipelago. A common greenhouse species is S. guttatum, which is native to eastern India and Burma.