PHILODENDRON BRASILIENSE
PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron brasiliense , published in Flora Brasiliensis 3(2): 168 (1878). The protologue is reproduced below.
SYNONYMS:
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Thaumatophyllum brasiliense (Engl.) Sakur., Calazans & Mayo
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: Philodendron cymbispathum Engl.
DISTRIBUTION: SE. Brazil: Brazil Southeast.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: iNaturalist: São Paulo.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Translated from protologue: Stem arborescent, stout. Petioles of the leaves a little longer than the midrib, shortly and broadly sheathed, somewhat terete, slightly channelled above, about 4 dm long, the sheath very broad but only 5–6 cm long. Blade broadly triangular-sagittate, subcoriaceous, 3–4½ dm long and 3–3½ dm wide; posterior lobes 2½–3 times shorter than the anterior lobe, directed backward or somewhat outward, somewhat rhombic, obtuse at the end, rounded on the inner side, about 1 dm long and 1½ dm wide, their ribs naked for about one-sixth to one-seventh of their length and bare for 2 cm in the sinus; anterior lobe semi-oblong-ovate, acute; primary lateral nerves of the anterior lobe 5–6, the lowest arising from the base and spreading, those on the lower side of the posterior lobes 2–3 and more slender, on the upper side 2 and stronger, departing from the midrib.
INFLORESCENCE:
Translated from protologue: Peduncles solitary, longer than the spathe, 1½–2 dm long and 4–5 mm thick. Spathe thick, its oblong tube equal in length to the acuminate blade, 1¼–1½ dm long and 6–7 cm wide above. Spadix subsessile, adnate to the spathe for a considerable length; the female part a little more slender than the male and 2½ times shorter, at maturity equalling it, 3 cm long and 1 cm thick, adnate along the back to the spathe for the greater part; the male part 7 cm long, its sterile portion 4–5 cm and the fertile 2–2½ cm long. Ovaries cylindric, 6–8-locular, the locules equalling half the ovary, 3-ovulate with the ovules attached below and above the middle, 3 mm long and 2 mm thick; stigma lobes decurrent at the margin. Staminodes 4–5 mm long and 1 mm thick at the apex; stamens a little shorter. Berries cylindric, rather large, 1 cm long and 4–5 mm thick, the locules 2–3-seeded. Seeds nearly 2 mm long, conforming to those of Philodendron speciosum.
ECOLOGY:
Found in marshes along the Rio Verde near Caldas, in the province of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin brasiliensis, “Brazilian” or “of Brazil,” referring to the country of origin. Although the original description does not explicitly explain the name, it marks the species’ provenance in the marshes along the Rio Verde near Caldas, in the Brazilian province of Minas Gerais.
NOTES:
1. Locality cited in the protologue: marshes along the Rio Verde near Caldas, in the present-day state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Engler cited three collections he had examined — Regnell III. 1292, Lindberg, and Widgren.
2. Eduardo Gomes Gonçalves, using the synonym Philodendron cymbispathum, described Philodendron brasiliense as an aquatic plant that usually grows along river banks or marshes.⁴ He characterized it as a self-heading plant with a crowd of leaves at the top of an erect stem that looks like a dwarf Philodendron bipinnatifidum, with sagittate to hastate leaves, and wrote that the whole plant can reach about 1.20 m.⁵
3. Philodendron × fosterianum, attributed to Mulford Foster, is listed as Philodendron bipinnatifidum × Foster’s unnamed “Species 1,” which was later identified as Philodendron cymbispathum, now treated as Philodendron brasiliense.⁶
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Philodendron brasiliense
2. Flora Brasiliensis 3(2): 168 (1878) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Philodendron brasiliense
4. Aroid-L mailing list, Eduardo Gomes Gonçalves, March 12th, 1997
5. Aroid-L mailing list, Eduardo Gomes Gonçalves, March 20th, 1997
6. Aroid-L mailing list, Eric Schmidt, December 10th, 2010
Additional photos by David Scherberich