PHILODENDRON BRUNNEICAULE

PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron brunneicaule , published in Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 84: 414 (1997).

Philodendron brunneicaule Croat & Grayum, sp. nov. TYPE: Panama. Coclé: Alto Calvario, 6 mi. N of El Copé, Atlantic slope along Continental Divide, along trail which heads off old lumber trail and leads down to Las Ricas, Limón, and San Juan, 710–800 m, 8°39'N, 80°36'W, 22 June 1988, Croat 68713 (holotype, MO–3591332).

DISTRIBUTION: Costa Rica to Ecuador: Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama.

DISTRIBUTION NOTE: iNaturalist: Limón.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Hemiepiphytic; stem light reddish brown to rusty red, leaf scars conspicuous, 8 mm long, 12 mm wide; internodes sparsely short dark-lineate, sometimes weakly warty, semiglossy, 6–20 cm long, 1–1.2 cm diam., longer than broad, dark green to olive-green to brown, epidermis loosening and flaking, reddish brown; cataphylls soft, 20–40 cm long, unribbed, sometimes bluntly 1-ribbed, greenish white to white with margins pinkish, drying reddish, deciduous; petioles 21–63 cm long, 4–11 mm diam., erect-spreading to spreading, terete, to C-shaped, somewhat flattened adaxially, medium green, surface matte, sometimes striate and dark green- to red-lineate; geniculum 3 cm long, 2.5–3 cm diam., thinner and paler than petiole; blades ovate, subcoriaceous, bicolorous, acuminate at apex, cordate or sometimes sagittate at base, 25–62 cm long, 16–52 cm wide (0.6–1.75 times longer than wide), (0.7–1.6 times longer than petiole), upper surface dark green, glossy to semiglossy, lower surface glossy to semiglossy, paler; anterior lobe 23–65 cm long, 19–52 cm wide (0.88–1.5 times longer than wide); posterior lobes rounded to obtuse, 8–20 cm long, 9–26 cm wide; sinus spathulate to hippocrepiform; midrib flat to sunken, paler than surface above, narrowly convex to round-raised, paler than surface, sometimes tinged maroon below; basal veins 5–9 per side, with 0–2 free to base, (2)3–4 coalesced 1.9–4.5 cm; posterior rib naked for 1–4.5 cm; primary lateral veins 4–6 per side (6–9 pairs in the Lita-San Lorenzo material⁴), departing midrib at a 45–55° angle, conspicuously sunken above, narrowly convex and tinged maroon below; interprimary veins weakly raised and darker than surface below; minor veins arising from both the midrib and primary lateral veins; tertiary veins visible and sometimes darker than surface below.

INFLORESCENCE:

INFLORESCENCES erect, 1 per axil; peduncle 4–20 cm long, 8–9 mm diam., medium green, whitish at base, short dark green lineate; spathe glossy, 11–21 cm long (1.05–2.85 times longer than peduncle), constricted midway above the tube; spathe blade cream outside, greenish white (at anthesis) inside; spathe tube 6.5–9 cm long, green outside, cherry-red inside; spadix 9–17 cm long, broadest above the middle or ± uniform throughout; pistillate portion cylindrical to obovoid, 3.8–7 cm long, 7–13 mm diam. at apex, 8–14 mm diam. at middle, 10–14 mm wide at base; staminate portion 4.6–17.5 cm long; fertile staminate portion clavate, 9–16 mm diam. at base, 12–20 mm diam. at middle, 7–10 mm diam. ca. 1 cm from apex, broadest at middle, broader than the pistillate portion, narrower than the sterile portion; sterile staminate portion as broad as or narrower than the pistillate portion, 0.9–1.6 cm diam.; pistils 1.3–3.2 mm long, 1–1.8 mm diam.; ovary 5(6)7-locular, 0.9–2.1 mm long, 0.9 mm diam., with axile placentation; ovules (13)15–18 per locule, 2-series, 0.1–1.7 mm long, longer than or equal in length to funicle, style 1.2 mm diam., similar to style type B; style apex rounded; stigma subdiscoid, lobed, 1.5 mm diam., 0.3 mm high, covering not quite entire style apex; the androecium truncate, 3–6-sided, 2.2 mm long; thecae oblong, 0.2–0.5 mm wide; sterile staminate flowers blunt with one side scalloped, 1–2.2 mm long, 0.7–1.9 mm wide. INFRUCTESCENCE with berries white. JUVENILE plants with internodes to 10 cm long, 4–10 mm diam.; cataphylls reddish, persisting at upper nodes, sharply C-shaped in cross section.

ECOLOGY:

Found at 50 to 1300 m elevation in Tropical wet forest and Premontane rain forest. Flowering probably occurs in the early rainy season, though a single post-anthesis collection was made in January; most post-flowering collections have been made between April and July, with immature fruits collected in August and October.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin brunneus, “brown,” and caulis, “stem,” referring to the long internodes whose thin, flaking epidermis gives the climbing stems their reddish brown color.

NOTES:

1. Philodendron brunneicaule is a member of Philodendron sect. Philodendron subsect. Platypodium. The species is characterized by its appressed-climbing habit, long internodes with thin, flaking reddish brown epidermis (hence the name “brunneicaule,” from “brunneus” meaning brown, and “caulis” meaning stem), white, unribbed, deciduous cataphylls, somewhat adaxially flattened and red-lineate petioles, ovate blades with reddish-brown-drying veins, large, solitary inflorescences borne at several of the uppermost internodes, and green spathes colored cherry-red inside on the tube.

2. Philodendron brunneicaule is probably related to Philodendron ernestii Engl. from Amazonian Ecuador and Peru. That species shares long internodes with flaking brown epidermis and similar, solitary inflorescences. It differs, however, in having stems that are often warty and petioles that are undulate-winged vs. more nearly terete for Philodendron brunneicaule. It is noteworthy, however, that a single collection from Amazonas Department, Peru (Vásquez & Apanu 19051, MO), appears to lack a petiolar wing. This may prove to be Philodendron brunneicaule, but if so it would be the first collection from east of the Andes.

3. In Central America Philodendron brunneicaule is most easily confused with Philodendron copense. See that species for the differences.

REFERENCES:

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

2. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 84: 414 (1997) — protologue.

3. iNaturalist: Philodendron brunneicaule

4. Croat, T. B., Delannay, X., Duncan, S. & Kostelac, C. V. (2016). Revision of Philodendron from the Lita-San Lorenzo Region (Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador). Aroideana 39(1): 26–315.

Additional photos by David Scherberich