PHILODENDRON BETHOWENIAE
PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron bethoweniae , published in Aroideana 39: 61 (2016).
Philodendron bethoweniae Croat, sp. nov. Type: ECUADOR. Esmeraldas: Lita-San Lorenzo Road, 15.8 km W of Río Lita Bridge (new), 00°53'45"N, 78°31'57"W, 800 m, 9 Oct 1999, T. B. Croat 83176 (holotype, MO-4961486–7; isotypes, B, COL, HUA, K, NY, QCNE, S, US). Figures 22–27.
DISTRIBUTION: Colombia to Ecuador: Colombia, Ecuador.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Epiphytic or hemiepiphytic; internodes 1.5–5 cm long, 2–5.5 cm diam.; cataphylls to 45 cm long, obtusely flattened on one side, dark to medium green, soft, semiglossy, weakly short-dark-lineate, soon rotting to fine pale fibers with fragments of thin brown epidermis, fibers densely arranged mostly longitudinally. LEAVES pendent; petioles 51–65 cm long, 1.0–1.3 cm diam., thicker than broad, dark green, weakly glossy, unmarked, geniculate; blades subcoriaceous, elliptic, rounded or broadly triangular at both ends (occasionally subcordate at the base), widest near the middle, 56–83 cm long, 21–37 cm wide, 1.8–2.6 times as long as wide, 1.1–1.3 times as long as petiole, dark green and semiglossy above, paler and weakly glossy to almost matte below; midrib convex and weakly many-ribbed, concolorous above, narrowly rounded and concolorous or darker below; primary lateral veins numerous, deeply quilted-sunken above, convex and pleated-raised, slightly darker below; basal veins 2–4 pairs, similar to primary lateral veins; minor veins visible but not very distinct.
INFLORESCENCE:
INFLORESCENCES 1–5 per axil; peduncle 8–20 cm long, 0.7–1.0 cm diam., thickly many-ribbed circumferentially, pale yellow-green or dark green; spathe 13–18 cm long, tube much wider than the blade, to 3 cm diam., blade creamy white or green and weakly glossy outside, tube slightly darker outside, pale green and glossy inside; spadix 12–14 cm long, female spadix 4–5.5 cm long, 1.1–1.5 cm diam., pale greenish white (post-anthesis), male spadix 8.0–8.5 cm long, 0.5–0.6 cm diam.; pistils 1.5 mm long, 1.8 mm diam. at base, tapered to apex, drying in moderately distinct rows with the stigmas in contact in the rows but with a distinct separation between the rows; stigma 0.9–1.6 mm diam., subglobose; ovules up to 8 per locule, 0.15 mm long, with axil placentation and with up to 3 funicles attached near the same place; funicles shorter than or up to as long as ovules; berries white.
ECOLOGY:
Found at 50–1350 m, in tropical moist forest, montane wet forest, premontane rain forest and premontane wet forest to premontane pluvial forest life zones.
ETYMOLOGY:
Named in honor of Beth Owen, who worked as Tom Croat's Research Assistant in 1998 and 1999, helped to organize the IX International Aroid Conference in St. Louis, and participated in one of the collecting expeditions to the Lita-San Lorenzo Region. The Latinized epithet bethoweniae means “of Beth Owen.”
NOTES:
1. The species is a member of subgenus Philodendron, section Philodendron, subsection Canniphyllum characterized by its short internodes, large cataphylls that soon decompose into a thick mat of pale fibers at the base of the stem, large, pendent, elliptic leaves that are 1.8–2.6 times as long as wide at the end of a long and geniculate petiole, and large green inflorescences with thickened tubes that are clustered 1–5 per axil.
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Philodendron bethoweniae
2. Aroideana 39: 61 (2016) — protologue.
Additional photos by David Scherberich