CATE: General Description Terrestrial or rarely epiphytic; roots numerous, thick, velutinous; cataphylls persisting as fibrous network, subcoriaceous, 6-10 cm long, acuminate at apex (the acumen apiculate), drying dark tan (B & K Yellow 5/5). LEAVES erect to spreading; petioles (2)6-22 cm long, (3)6-9 mm diam., flattened to broadly sulcate adaxially, sharply 3-ribbed abaxially; blades epunctate, ob-lanceolate to broadly oblanceolate, gradually acuminate at apex, long attenuate at base, (11)25-62 cm long, (3.5)5.5-27 cm wide, broadest at middle; midrib raised above and below, paler than surface, sometimes yellow; primary lateral veins 8-12 per side, departing the midrib at 40°-45° angle; collective vein arising from the third to fifth primary lateral vein, 3-5 mm from the margin. INFLORESCENCE erect, usually shorter than leaves; peduncle 24-53 cm long, 3-5 mm diam., much longer than petioles; spathe green, linear-lanceolate, 5-12 cm long, 0.7-1.1 cm wide; spadix sessile, green to white, sometimes tinged with red-violet, 7-16 cm long, 6-8 mm diam. at base, 3-4 mm diam. at apex; flowers square to rhombic, ca. 2 mm in both directions, the sides ± straight; 5-6 flowers visible in the principal spiral, 5-7 flowers visible in the alternate spiral; lateral tepals 0.5 mm wide, the inner margins turned up. INFRUCTESCENCE with greenish-yellow, obovoid berries often not developing in apical one quarter to one half of spadix. Habitat Tropical moist, premontane wet, and tropical wet forest life zones Distribution Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador.