PHILODENDRON CALATHEIFOLIUM
PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron calatheifolium , published in Phytologia 60: 311 (1986). The protologue is reproduced below.
DISTRIBUTION: Venezuela (Táchira): Venezuela.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Translated from protologue: Herb climbing up to 3 m, the branches pendent. Stems green, becoming silvery-grey, 1.6–2.2 cm thick.
Grayum's 1996 revision, from eight collections (three of them fertile), describes the plant as appressed-climbing on tree trunks to at least 3 m, with pendent fertile shoots, and the stems as dark green to olive-gray or silvery gray and 0.7–1.2 cm wide (perhaps to 2.2 cm); the male flowers, mature fruits and seeds were still unknown.³
ETYMOLOGY:
Although the original description does not explicitly explain the name, the epithet combines the genus name Calathea with the Latin-folium, “leaf,” and likely refers to the resemblance of the foliage to that of a Calathea (Marantaceae), the prayer plants.
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Philodendron calatheifolium
2. Phytologia 60: 311 (1986) — protologue.