PHILODENDRON CAMPII
PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron campii , published in Aroideana 27: 39 (2004).
Philodendron campii Croat, sp. nov.
Type: ECUADOR. Pastaza: Along rd. between Puyo and Baños, vic. Shell, less than 1 km N of village, disturbed virgin forest in marshy area with standing water, 1,096 m, 1°29′39″S, 78°03′52″W, 15 Aug. 2002, Croat, Hannon & Schmidt 86625 (holotype, MO-5745870; isotypes, K, US).
Planta hemiepiphytica; internodia 2–3 cm longa, 1–1.4 cm diam.; cataphylla plerumque 2-costata, 20–25 cm longa; petiolus teres, 5.5–7.5 cm longus; blades oblongo-lanceolata, 30–50 cm longa, 7.5–17 cm lata, plerumque obtusa vel rotundata ad basim; nervis primariis lateralibus 16–23 plerumque; inflorescentia 2–5(9) in quoque axila; pedunculus 6–11.6 cm longus; spatha viridis vel cremea, 4.5–8.2 cm longa; spadix viridis vel cremeus, 5.9–10.4 cm longus, parte pistillata 1.5–3.72 cm longa, 6.2–9 mm diam.
DISTRIBUTION: Colombia to Peru and N. Brazil: Brazil North, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: iNaturalist: Pastaza.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Epiphytic or occasionally terrestrial at higher elevations; internodes 2–3 cm long, 1–1.4 cm diam., pale green, drying tan to brownish; sap clear; leaf scars moderately conspicuous, 2.1 cm high, 3.7 cm wide; roots relatively few per node, descending, drying brown, mostly to ca. 4 cm long, 1–1.5 mm diam.; cataphylls subcoriaceous, sharply 2-ribbed, 20–25 cm long, medium green, with hyaline margins, inequilateral at apex, drying brownish, ultimately becoming fibrous. LEAVES erect to spreading, more or less rosulate; petioles 5.5–7.5 cm long, 9–10 mm diam., somewhat C-shaped in cross-section, thickly swollen and moderately spongy, bluntly and shallowly to deeply sulcate, medium green, semi-glossy, sheathed inconspicuously or between ⅓ and ½ of its length; blades oblong-oblanceolate, 30–50 cm long, 7.5–17 cm wide at widest point, 4–6.7 times longer than wide, 5.4–9.25 times longer than the petioles, widest point at ½ to ⅔ of length, subcoriaceous, semi-glossy, weakly bicolorous, dark green above, slightly paler below, acuminate at apex, acute to attenuate at base; midrib flattened near base, convex toward apex above, thicker than broad below; primary lateral veins (9)16–23 per side, arising from the midrib at 60–80° (mostly about 70°), curving upward, somewhat quilted-sunken above, convex and darker than the surface below; interprimary veins conspicuous, darker than surface; minor veins clearly visible; cross-veins sometimes weakly visible.
INFLORESCENCE:
INFLORESCENCES 2–5(9) per axil; peduncles 6–11.6 cm long, slightly flattened, ca. 3 × 5 mm diam., 0.9–1.5 times as long as the petioles, weakly glossy, medium green; spathe medium green to cream outside, not at all constricted, 4.5–8.2 cm long, averaging about 6 cm, to 2 cm diam. when furled, 3.4–3.7 cm wide when open, weakly cuspidate-acuminate at apex, the blade turning paler toward the margins, finally almost white along the margins; resin canals prominent, extending to within 1.7 cm of apex and 1 cm above the base; spadix white, 5.9–10.4 cm long; pistillate portion cylindroid, slightly narrowed toward the apex, 1.5–3.72 cm long, 5–8 mm diam. near apex, 6.2–9 mm midway, 6–8.5 mm at base; staminate portion weakly tapered, 2.3–7.5 cm long, 7.4–9 mm diam. at base, 5.4–7.5 mm diam. midway, 4–5.8 mm diam. near the apex; sterile staminate portion 8–10 mm long; pistils ± oblong, 1.6–2.2 mm long, 1.1–2 mm diam.; locules 6(7), ca. 1 mm long; ovules 1–2 per locule, contained within an oblong, transparent, gelatinous envelope, basal ovules 0.5 mm long, the funicle much shorter than the ovule; stigma depressed-globose, 0.4–0.7 mm diam., 0.4 mm thick. INFRUCTESCENCE with berries green to brown.
ECOLOGY:
Found in tropical moist forest (bh-T), tropical wet forest (bmh-T) and tropical pluvial forest (bp-T) life zones, at 130–1,180 m elevation; usually epiphytic, occasionally terrestrial at higher elevations.
ETYMOLOGY:
Named in honor of Wendell Holmes Camp (1904–1963), an American botanist formerly of the New York Botanical Garden, who made the second known collection of the species, in 1944. The Latinized epithet campii means “of Camp.” The first collection had been made by Eric Asplund in 1939, but he already had a species named for him.
NOTES:
1. Philodendron campii is distinguished by its usually epiphytic, rosulate habit, short, moderately slender stem and mostly oblanceolate to somewhat oblong-elliptic leaf blades with (9)16–23 pairs of primary lateral veins, usually 8–10(15) mm apart and arising at ca. 70° from the midrib. In addition, it has 2–5(9) inflorescences per axil, with ovate to nearly globular, greenish spathe tubes that are maroon within, and greenish white blades. It is a member of subgenus Philodendron, section Calostigma, subsection Glossophyllum, and has 5–6-locular ovaries and a solitary, basal ovule in each locule.
2. Philodendron campii is most easily confused with another new species described here, Philodendron paucinervium Croat. The latter species has similar features, such as dark-drying blades and clusters of inflorescences of similar size and shape, but differs in having more oblanceolate blades that are usually attenuated toward the base, below the middle of the blade, and have 4–7 pairs of primary lateral veins that depart the midrib at a very acute angle, then spread at a 40–60° angle. In contrast, Philodendron campii has blades that are more uniformly oblong-elliptic, with scarcely if any attenuation in the lower half of the blade, and usually have 16–23 pairs of primary lateral veins that typically depart the midrib promptly, at a 60–80° (mostly 70°) angle.
3. Although the drying color of most aroids tends to be consistent, unless moderately low temperatures are used, which causes them to dry less darkened, the drying color of both Philodendron campii and Philodendron paucinervium are somewhat inconsistent. While most collections of Philodendron campii dry rather blackened, some specimens dry yellow-brown (See Holm-Nielsen et al. 22180, 22229, 22480 and 22604 all from Curaray, in Pastaza Province). The same is true of Philodendron paucinervium, with most collections drying somewhat blackened but with other specimens drying yellowish gray on the upper surface and yellowish green below (See Ule 6186, 6306), others drying dark brown above and yellow-brown below (See Schultes & Idrobo 17420) and still others drying yellow-brown on both surfaces (See Killip & Smith 28149).
4. Herbarium material of Philodendron campii might be confused with Philodendron acutifolium K. Kr., which has similar, oblanceolate blades. That species differs in having much larger, typically more yellow-green-drying blades, a larger inflorescence and a petiole that is usually deeply flat-sulcate.
5. Philodendron campii can also be confused with what may prove to be another species, since all of the material dried yellowish brown rather than blackened. These might, in fact, be the same species, but we are reluctant to include them here as paratypes. The material discussed above was collected in Peru, in the Bosque Nacional de Iparia in Huanuco Department, in Tropical dry forest (T-df) (Schunke 2440), in San Martín Department, along the road between Tarapoto and Yurimaguas, in Tropical moist forest (bh-T) (Plowman 6003; Knaap & Mallet 8428), and in Huambisa in Amazonas Department, in Tropical moist forest (bh-T) (Huashikat 570).
6. Kennedy 3874, from Jatun Sacha, is unusual in having blades that are more elliptic than most collections, but is probably this species.
7. Philodendron campii was treated in Hortus Third (Bailey & Bailey, 1976) and in Exotica 3 (Graf, 1963) as Philodendron ‘Lynette’. It was considered a hybrid of Philodendron elaphoglossoides Schott and Philodendron wendlandii Schott (Bailey & Bailey, 1976), but the species is certainly not a hybrid. One of the purported parents, Philodendron wendlandii, is restricted to Central America, and Philodendron elaphoglossoides is a rather rare species that does not occur within the natural range of Philodendron campii.
STORY:
STORY TITLE: The houseplant that turned out to be a wild species
Long before it carried a scientific name, this philodendron was a familiar houseplant. Nurseries and reference works such as Hortus Third and Exotica 3 listed it as Philodendron ‘Lynette’ and treated it as a garden hybrid between Philodendron elaphoglossoides and Philodendron wendlandii.²
The supposed parentage never quite worked. Philodendron wendlandii grows only in Central America, and Philodendron elaphoglossoides is a rare plant that does not reach the western Amazon, so the two could scarcely have met to produce it. Examined against wild-collected material, the ‘hybrid’ resolved into a good species in its own right — a rosette-forming hemiepiphyte ranging from Brazil through southern Colombia and Ecuador into northern Peru.²
Eric Asplund gathered the first specimen in 1939, but a species had already been named in his honor. The plant instead took the name of W. H. Camp of the New York Botanical Garden, who made the second collection five years later, in 1944.²
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Philodendron campii
2. Aroideana 27: 39 (2004) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Philodendron campii
Additional photos by David Scherberich
Additional photos from iNaturalist by Dr. Alexey Yakovlev, Sebastián Vizcarra, Biohive Greenhouse of MA Annur Bululawang, David Torres, Luis Salagaje, Riley Fortier and Ferhat Gundogdu