PHILODENDRON BONIFAZIAE

PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron bonifaziae , published in Aroideana 39: 65 (2016).

Philodendron bonifaziae Croat, sp. nov. Type: ECUADOR. Esmeraldas: Lita-San Lorenzo Road, 11.2 km E of Gasolinera San Lorenzo, 01°12'N, 78°45'30"N, 135 m, 7 Oct 1999, T. B. Croat, R. Mansell, L. P. Hannon & B. Owen 83087 (holotype, MO-4966816; isotypes, AAU, B, COL, CUVC, F, GB, HUA, K, M, NY, PMA, CAS, QCNE, S, SEL, TEX, US, USM).

DISTRIBUTION: Ecuador: Ecuador.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Hemiepiphytic appressed-climber or epiphyte; stem > 1 m long; internodes 4–8 cm long, 1.5–3 cm diam., sometimes obtusely flattened and with marginal ribs, dark green, turning light greenish brown, weakly glossy; cataphylls 30 cm long, green, tinged pink or fully reddish, 2-sharply-high-ribbed, deciduous. LEAVES pendent; petioles 6–18 cm long, 5–8 mm diam., obtusely flattened adaxially, sheathed to above middle, spongy, green tinged purplish at apex and base, lacking any sign of a sulcus; blades 34–54 cm long, 6–13 cm wide, 3.9–7.1 times as long as wide, 2.7–6 times as long as petiole (juvenile blades 20–27 cm long, 2.5–4 cm wide, up to 9 times as long as wide), moderately coriaceous, oblanceolate and elongate with a cordulate base, abruptly acuminate at apex, medium to dark green and semiglossy above, moderately paler to much paler below; midrib narrow-rounded and slightly paler above and below; primary lateral veins obscure on both surfaces.

INFLORESCENCE:

INFLORESCENCE solitary; peduncle 13–22 cm long, 1 x 1.4 cm diam., moderately flattened, yellow-green to dark green, pale streaked, clearly demarcated with purple-violet at apex; spathe 16–22 cm long, green tinged purple-violet to purple-violet throughout, moderately glossy outside, pale green inside, clearly demarcated from peduncle; spadix 15–21 cm long, dark green or reddish cream; staminate portion comprising 2/3 of total length, broadest in lower 1/3 and gradually tapered to narrowly rounded apex; sterile staminate portion 1.3 cm long, 1.3 cm diam. at base, 1.2 cm diam. at apex; pistillate portion 4 cm long in front, 2.7 cm long in rear, 1.2 cm diam. diam. near base, 1 mm diam. near apex; pistils 2–2.6 mm long, 1.6–1.8 mm diam., 8–9 locular; style barely discernible; stigma 1–1.2 mm wide, depressed-globose, ca. 0.2 mm thick; locules 1.6 mm long, 0.25 mm diam.; ovules 2 per locule, contained within a translucent envelope which fills entire locule, 0.15 mm long with funicle as long as ovule or up to ½ as long as ovules, glandular in at least lower ½ of length.

ECOLOGY:

Found at 40–800 m, in Tropical moist forest transition to Tropical dry forest life zones.

ETYMOLOGY:

Named in honor of Carmen Bonifaz of the Universidad de Guayaquil, who, with Xavier Cornejo, collected the first fertile specimen of the species and who has long been an excellent teacher and serious collector of many new plant species. The Latinized epithet bonifaziae means “of Bonifaz.”

NOTES:

1. The species is a member of subgenus Philodendron, section Macrobelium, subsection Glossophyllum, series Glossophyllum and is characterized by its hemiepiphytic habit, internodes longer than broad, sharply 2-high-ribbed deciduous cataphylls, heavily sheathed petioles which are thicker than broad and purplish at apex and base, oblanceolate brown-drying abruptly acuminate blades with a cordulate leaf base, numerous closely spaced basal veins, obscure primary lateral veins as well as by its long-pedunculate solitary inflorescence, greenish spathe sometimes tinged reddish on tube outside, greenish throughout inside with dark green pistillate portion. It also has a distinctive coconut scent.

2. Philodendron bonifaziae is most easily confused with Philodendron musifolium Engl. which differs by having proportionately longer petioles with a short inconspicuous sheath, leaf blades that are mostly broadest at the middle or below the middle, and rather prominent lateral veins. This species also occurs at much higher altitudes (to 2,300 m) in Pichincha Province of Ecuador.

STORY:

STORY TITLE: A coconut-scented philodendron from the Lita–San Lorenzo forests

Among the philodendrons that Thomas Croat and his colleagues sorted out from the forests along the Lita–San Lorenzo road in northwestern Ecuador, Philodendron bonifaziae stands apart for something no herbarium sheet can preserve: a distinctive coconut scent. A hemiepiphytic climber of Tropical moist to Tropical dry forest between about 40 and 800 m, it trails pendent leaves from stems over a meter long, its cataphylls flushing pink to red before they drop.²

The species carries the name of Carmen Bonifaz of the Universidad de Guayaquil, who, with Xavier Cornejo, gathered the first fertile specimen. A dedicated teacher and collector credited with many new plants, she is remembered in an epithet that means simply “of Bonifaz.”²

REFERENCES:

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

2. Aroideana 39: 65 (2016) — protologue.

3. iNaturalist: Philodendron bonifaziae

Additional photos by David Scherberich

Additional photos from iNaturalist by LostInCR, coqwallon and Bento Hurtado