Question

Which plant is described by these clues? Its name echoes a Greek word for a little round warrior's shield, a nod to the broad, flat disc of a {stigma} crowning each bloom. Its species epithet is simply Latin marking it as the loftier, more high-reaching member of its genus. Every bloom cradles both pollen-bearing {stamens} and a broad, shield-shaped {stigma} together inside one fleshy cup. Each spring it opens fleshy, eight-lobed cups about 1 inch (2.5 cm) across, pressed flat to the soil and hidden beneath the leaf litter. Its dingy ground-level cups mimic a small mushroom in both look and musty smell, luring fungus gnats down to the forest floor to shuttle their pollen. Its dark, glossy, leathery strap-shaped blades, 12 to 20 inches (30 to 50 cm) long, rise one at a time, each on its own {petiole} straight from the ground. In the wild it carpets the deep-shade forest floor of southern Japan and Taiwan, beneath a broadleaf canopy. A pollinated cup ripens to a single round {berry}, much like a lily-of-the-valley's. It spreads slowly by a stout underground {rhizome}, adding only two to four new leaves a year. In Japan its tough, durable leaves long served to divide and garnish food, and the plastic 'grass' tucked into a supermarket sushi tray is named for and imitates them. Legendary for surviving dim, dusty Victorian parlours and smoky bar-rooms, this near-indestructible shade houseplant earned a nickname as tough as metal.

Accepted Answer

Aspidistra elatior

Name That Plant #053