PHILODENDRON AURICULATUM
PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron auriculatum , published in Ceiba 3: 108 (1952). The protologue is reproduced below.
DISTRIBUTION: Costa Rica: Costa Rica.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: iNaturalist: Puntarenas.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Translated from protologue: Apparently an epiphytic climber, the stem not seen; leaves among the largest, thickly papery when dry, the petiole naked, 6 cm long, 7 mm thick at the apex and 1 cm wide at the base; blade elliptic-oblong, about 65 cm long and 21 cm wide, subobtuse and abruptly acuminate at the apex, the acumen about 3.5 cm long, narrowed near the base and dilated just above the very base, the base itself 7 cm wide, deeply (2 cm) auriculate-cordate, the auricles somewhat separated and rounded.
INFLORESCENCE:
Translated from protologue: Peduncles 6.5–11 cm long, 8–10 mm thick; spathe green outside, wine-red within, about 22 cm long, at first tightly enclosing the spadix, the blade later spreading and 4 cm wide, cuspidate-acute at the apex, about 13 cm long, the tube about 3 cm thick; spadix sessile, at anthesis 12–15 mm thick, the lower female portion 5.5–6 cm long, the upper male portion slightly narrowed toward the obtuse apex; stigma cushion-shaped, obscurely lobulate.
ECOLOGY:
Found as an epiphyte, common on large trees in the Esquinas forest of Puntarenas, Costa Rica, at 60 m elevation.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin auriculatus, “eared,” from auricula, “a little ear.” Although the original description does not explicitly explain the name, the epithet refers to the deeply auriculate-cordate base of the leaf blade, with its rounded, slightly separated lobes; the authors’ diagnosis names the auriculate-cordiform base among the leaf characters that distinguish the species.
NOTES:
1. The distinctive characters of this Philodendron are found in the leaves, which are large and elliptic-oblong, narrowed and auriculate-cordiform at the base, with the veins numerous and nearly uniform in their prominence.
2. Type: Paul H. Allen 5597 (holotype at the Escuela Agrícola Panamericana herbarium; duplicate at the Chicago Natural History Museum, now the Field Museum), collected on 17 October 1950 from large trees in the Esquinas forest between the Río Esquinas and Palmar Sur de Osa, Prov. Puntarenas, Costa Rica, at 60 m elevation.
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Philodendron auriculatum
2. Ceiba 3: 108 (1952) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Philodendron auriculatum
Additional photos by David Scherberich