PHILODENDRON ASPLUNDII

PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron asplundii , published in Novon 11: 381 (2001).

Philodendron asplundii Croat & M. L. Soares, sp. nov. TYPE: Ecuador. Napo: vicinity of Baeza, on steep slopes above town of Baeza and road between Baeza and Lago Agrio (Nuevo Loja), virgin forest at edge of pastures, 2500 m, 19 Dec. 1979, T. B. Croat 49444 (holotype, MO-2737423–24; isotypes, COL, F, INPA, K, M, NY, QCA, QCNE, US). Figures 1, 2, 3.

DISTRIBUTION: S. Trop. America: Brazil North, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, Venezuela.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Appressed-climbing hemiepiphyte to 1–3 m above ground, rarely terrestrial; stems to 1 m long; internodes short, (2)4–8 cm long, (0.6)3–5 cm diam.; cataphylls 21–44 cm long, faintly to sharply 2-ribbed to sharply D-shaped, green or green-tinged weakly with red or purple, drying brown with distinct striations, persisting intact to semi-intact and dilacerating into a net of fine fibers with mucilage (with thin patches of epidermis), epidermis brown to rusty-brown; petioles terete to obtusely flattened adaxially, 17–60(100) cm long (av. 35.7 cm), 0.54–1.69 times longer than blade (av. 1.08 times longer), 0.6–1.2 cm diam. midway, firm, semiglossy, gray-green to medium and dark green, sometimes dark green with darker green lines; geniculum 1.3–3 cm long, sometimes slightly darker, scurfy, slightly broader than petioles; sheath short or almost absent, up to 3 cm long; leaf blades lanceolate (probably pre-adult), narrowly ovate-triangular to broadly ovate and sometimes truncate, 17–49(68) cm long (av. 40 cm), 7.6–36 cm wide (av. 19 cm), and 1.2–3.9 times longer than wide (av. 2.4 times), acuminate at apex, subcoriaceous to coriaceous, weakly glossy to glossy, dark green and matte, slightly bicolorous above, much paler and semiglossy below, anterior lobe 37–62 cm long, margins usually broadly convex, sometimes straight, occasionally concave; posterior lobes 9–20 cm long; midrib flat, slightly paler, concolorous, and broadly convex on upper surface, raised and paler on lower surface; primary lateral veins 6 to 10 per side, 8 to 20 pairs, arising at sharp angle then spreading at 45–60° angle from midrib, gently curving toward apex, sunken above, raised and darker than surface below; minor veins obscure above, distinct or rarely indistinct below; cross-veins drying distinct; basal veins 2 to 5 per side, 1st pair free to base, 2nd & 3rd pairs often coalesced 1–2 cm; posterior rib short and straight, never naked along sinus; sinus (when present) parabolic to arcuate or subhippocrepiform.

INFLORESCENCE:

Inflorescences up to 8 per axil; peduncles (3.0)8.0–15.5 cm long (av. 10.1 cm), 7–10 mm (drying 3–8 mm) diam., terete to weakly flattened, conspicuously striate, erect to somewhat spreading, green with paler streaks, white at base, tinged red; spathe 8–14.5(17) cm long, tapering toward apex with spathe sometimes turned upward from peduncle; spathe tube 3–5.3 cm long, 2–3.6 cm diam., green to pale green with white streaks outside, whitish to pale green or light red inside with translucent resin canals, these eventually with pale yellow resin in lower 2/3 of tube; spathe blade white to yellowish white, sometimes bent backward about midway at anthesis (Croat 49605); spadix 7.5–13 cm long, female portion 1.9–2.2 cm long, 1.2–1.4 cm diam., greenish white to white or pale yellow-green; male portion creamy-white to white, 3.5–8.5 cm long, 1 cm diam. 1 cm above base, 7 mm diam. 1 cm below tip; sterile male portion ca. 1 cm long, 1.4–1.6 cm diam.; sterile male flowers 1.75 mm long, 1.75 mm diam., fertile male flowers 1.5–2.4 mm long, 1.3–1.5 mm diam., narrowed toward base, stamens 3 to 5 per flower; pistils 1.5–3 mm long, 1–2 mm diam., 4- to 6-locular, drying dark tan; style 0.6–0.8 mm long, 1.25 mm diam.; stigma depressed-globular, 1–1.2 mm high; style irregularly circular in outline with a central indentation and usually 4 to 6 indentations in a circle around a central pore (these corresponding to the usual number of locules), drying shield-like, ca. 2 mm diam., extending slightly over margin of ovary; locules 4 to 7 per ovary, 2.1 mm long; ovules hemi-anatropous, ca. 25 per locule, 0.4–0.5 mm long; axile placentation, biseriate: funicle 0.3–0.4 mm long. Infructescence with berry yellowish to orangish or greenish white, seeds 1 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, with 8 to 10 longitudinal striations (ridges), narrowing near chalazal end, drying tan.

ECOLOGY:

Found in tropical moist forest (T-mf) and premontane wet forest (P-wf), apparently preferring the latter based on the number of collections, at 150–2500 m elevation.

ETYMOLOGY:

Named in honor of Erik Asplund (1888–1974), a Swedish botanist who was among the earliest collectors in Ecuador and gathered many new species of Araceae. Because existing names in Philodendron precluded honoring the species’ first collectors, E. P. Killip and A. C. Smith, the epithet honors Asplund instead; asplundii means “of Asplund.”

NOTES:

1. Philodendron asplundii is a member of Philodendron subg. Philodendron sect. Philodendron and is highly variable in blade shape. It can be distinguished by the prominent cross-veins visible on fresh veins, which are especially noticeable upon drying, and by the sharply D-shaped to sharply 2-ribbed cataphylls, which persist as fine fibers and epidermal fragments. It is most closely related to Philodendron colombianum R. E. Schultes, which differs by being terrestrial, having smaller, nearly rounded blades, a V-shaped sinus, and smaller inflorescences with shorter, more globular spathe tubes.

2. One collection (Holm-Nielsen et al. 22723) referred to the inflorescence as being red, which seems highly unlikely for this species.

STORY:

STORY TITLE: A widespread Amazonian aroid that waited seventy-two years for a name

Philodendron asplundii ranges across the Amazon basin — from French Guiana and southern Venezuela through Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador to Peru — and yet it went unnamed until 2001. It was first gathered in 1929 by E. P. Killip and A. C. Smith in the Río Huallaga valley of Loreto, Peru, and again in 1956 by Erik Asplund in Ecuador. When Thomas Croat and Maria de Lourdes Soares finally described it, the names of its first collectors, Killip and Smith, were already in use elsewhere in Philodendron, so the plant was named instead for Asplund — a Swedish botanist who was among the earliest collectors in Ecuador and who brought many new aroids to science.²

Highly variable in leaf shape, the species is recognized by cataphylls that weather into a network of fine fibers with thin patches of epidermis and by the prominently raised cross-veins running between the minor veins of its blades.²

REFERENCES:

1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Philodendron asplundii

2. Novon 11: 381 (2001) — protologue.

3. iNaturalist: Philodendron asplundii

Additional photos by David Scherberich