Acaulescent, to 65 cm tall; roots bearing edible tubers. Petioles broadly winged to base of pulvinus, somewhat shorter than blade; blades oblong or obovate-elliptic, shortly and abruptly acuminate to blunt at apex, obtuse or rounded at base, 25-38 cm long, 6-15 cm wide, often +/- asymmetrical, dark green and glabrous above except the midrib, paler and moderately pubescent with soft trichomes below. Inflorescences terminal, arising among leaf sheaths, sessile or very short-pedunculate; bracts mostly 3-7 cm long, lanceolate, spirally arranged; flowers yellow, cleistogamous, ca 5 cm long, exserted ca 1.5 cm, the tube very slender, ca 3.5 cm long; corolla lobes +/- unequal, to 17 mm long, 5-9 mm wide, elliptic and boat-shaped; staminodia petaloid, irregular, shorter than petals, united with filament; anther ca 3.2 mm long; style stiff, curved. Capsules ca 1 cm long; seeds 3, brown, ca 5 mm long, the aril with 2 lateral, pointed appendages. Croat 11786. Uncommon in the forest, but locally abundant in a few places along trails, notably on Hood, Van Tyne, and Wheeler trails. The plant dies back during the middle of the dry season and reappears the following rainy season, about May. Flowers mostly from June to October. The fruits apparently develop quickly, but their time of dispersal is unknown. Recognized by its small size and its yellow flowers inconspicuously situated below the leaves. The flowers are cleistogamous, and reproduction is by means of autogamy. Costa Rica (Guanacaste) and Panama. In Panama, known from seasonally dry parts of tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone, Panama and Darien and from premontane moist forest in Panama. BCI has about the upper limit of rainfall for the species. See Fig. 156.