PHILODENDRON ACUTIFOLIUM
PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron acutifolium , published in Notizblatt des Botanischen Gartens und Museums zu Berlin-Dahlem 11: 620 (1932). The protologue is reproduced below.
DISTRIBUTION: SE. Colombia to Peru: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Translated from protologue: Stem climbing on tree trunks, terete, stout, covered with a dark brown, smooth epidermis. Petiole thick, sheathed, 1.5 dm long. Blade large, thinly leathery, somewhat shiny, elongate-oblanceolate, bearing at the very tip a narrow, acute acumen almost 3 cm long, narrowed long and gradually, nearly wedge-shaped, from the upper third or fourth toward the base, the very base indistinctly roundish, 5.5 dm long and up to 1.2 dm wide, slightly unequal-sided. Primary lateral veins about 20, spreading from the midrib at 70–80°, the midrib nearly 5 mm wide at the base, strongly tapering upward, sunken above and distinctly prominent beneath; the primaries ascend in arches toward the margin, slightly raised above and more distinctly prominent beneath; secondary and tertiary veins numerous, finer than the primaries and parallel to them.
INFLORESCENCE:
Translated from protologue: Peduncle terete, stout, about 1 dm long and 5–6 mm thick. Spathe convolute, contracted a little above the middle, narrowed upward, 9 cm long. Female portion of the spadix in fruit ellipsoid, 5–5.5 cm long; male portion subclavate, narrowed upward, acute, 3–4 cm long. Berries ovoid, obtuse (mostly destroyed in the specimen described above); seeds narrowly oblong, pale brown.
ECOLOGY:
Found in dense forest at about 375 m near Puerto Bermúdez, Junín Department, Peru (Andean region).
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin acutus, “sharp, pointed,” and folium, “leaf,” meaning “sharp-pointed leaf.” Krause does not explain the name; his description notes that the blade ends in a narrow, acute acumen almost 3 cm long, which the epithet most likely alludes to.
NOTES:
1. Krause says the species closely resembles Philodendron nobile Bull in the cut of the blade, but differs from it in its longer, distinctly set-off petiole and in the venation.
2. The only collection cited is E. P. Killip and A. C. Smith 26578, dated July 1929 and recorded as in flower, in dense forest at about 375 m near Puerto Bermúdez, Junín Department, Peru, although the description is of a fruiting spadix with berries and seeds.
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Philodendron acutifolium
2. Notizblatt des Botanischen Gartens und Museums zu Berlin-Dahlem 11: 620 (1932) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Philodendron acutifolium
Additional photos from iNaturalist by Alex Bentley, Alan Rockefeller, LostInCR, Nelson Apolo, fern Wildtruth, ingo_weiss, Kelly Maoli Encarnacion Cuenca and Kassy Estefania Moreno Paredes