PHILODENDRON APPUNII
PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron appunii , published in Phytologia 60: 310 (1986). The protologue is reproduced below.
DISTRIBUTION: N. Venezuela: Venezuela.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Translated from protologue: Climbing herb. Stem up to 3.6 cm in diameter, the flowering internodes 3–5 cm long or more. Cataphyll 31 cm long, falling when mature. Petiole subterete but plano-convex adaxially, more or less 3-angled near the apex, 37–44 cm long, 1.3 cm thick at the middle, reddening towards the apex; the sheathed part 4.5–8 cm long, the sheath up to 2.2 cm wide on the other side near the apex. Leaf blade held erect on the petiole, leathery, ovate-triangular in outline, up to 43–59 cm long and 18.5–25.5 cm wide, obtuse at the apex with the apex itself acuminate (2 cm), subsagittate at the base, the posterior lobes obtuse at their apices and separated by a parabolic sinus 8.5 cm deep, the outer margin of one lobe strongly concave and that of the other convex; primary lateral veins 6–7 on each side, departing at an angle of 65–80°, reddish abaxially, the minor veins all subparallel.
INFLORESCENCE:
Translated from protologue: Inflorescences up to five. Peduncle 7.5–9 cm long. Spathe 14–15.5 cm long, the tube 7 × 2–2.3 cm, carmine outside, the limb green becoming ivory above and suffused or dotted with carmine; within, the tube deep cherry-coloured, continuing into the base of the limb, the limb ivory above. Spadix nearly equalling the spathe, stipitate, the stipe rose-coloured, 0.3 cm long behind and 0.8 cm in front; pistillate part 4.2 cm long, staminate part sterile for 1.2 cm and fertile for 6.5 cm. Pistillate flowers with a 6–7-locular ovary, the locules uniovulate. Staminate flowers 4–3-androus.
ETYMOLOGY:
Although the protologue does not explain the name, the epithet almost certainly honors Carl Ferdinand Appun (1820–1872), a German naturalist and plant collector who explored Venezuela and resided for a time at Colonia Tovar, near which the type was collected. The Latinized epithet “appunii” means “of Appun.”
NOTES:
1. In the protologue Bunting placed the species in Philodendron section Oligospermium Engl.
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Philodendron appunii
2. Phytologia 60: 310 (1986) — protologue.