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Arum |
Some herbal plants under the rain forests have huge leaves, such as plantain, arums and
Tacca chantrieri Andre etc. Their leaves are so large that several people could shelter rains under them. Huge leaves could receive more rays; therefore, they are beneficial for plants growing under tall arbor trees. Most botanists believe that this is the result of evolvement for herbal plants to adapt to the poor lighting conditions under trees.
In the rain forests of Xishuangbanna, arum is a common plant with huge leaves. Arum is a kind of evergreen herbal plant and it has both crawling caudexes and standing caudexes. Its standing caudexes can grow as tall as 3-5 meters and as thick as 10-30 cm. Arums have verdant leaves, and its leave stalks can grow as long as 1.5 meters with a width of 1 meter. In the rainy reason, the local residents often cut the arum leaves down and use them as umbrellas, or hide under the arum leaves to shelter rain.
 
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