PHILODENDRON CAUDATUM
PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron caudatum , published in Das Pflanzenreich IV. 23Db(Heft 60): 13 (1913). The protologue is reproduced below.
DISTRIBUTION: Bolivia: Bolivia.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Translated from protologue: Branchlets slender, terete, the upper internodes short, 1–1.5 cm long, 5–6 mm thick. Petioles 4.5–5.5 cm long, with a somewhat leathery, persistent sheath that is fairly broad, more dilated upward, free a little below the base of the blade but produced beyond the base of the blade in a ligulate manner; blade thinly leathery, oblong to ovate-oblong, at the apex somewhat obliquely cuspidate-acuminate, obtuse or rarely somewhat acute at the base, 1.2–1.6 dm long, 4.5–6.5 cm wide, slightly inequilateral, one side about ¼ wider, traversed by 7 to 9 primary veins departing the midrib at an angle of about 45° and curving upward toward the margin, somewhat thicker than the secondary and tertiary veins.
INFLORESCENCE:
Translated from protologue: Peduncle short, terete, moderately stout, 1–1.5 cm long. Spathe narrowly oblong, slightly constricted about the middle or a little below it, furnished at the apex with a very slender, sharply pointed, tail-like cusp 3–4 cm long, 1.2–1.4 dm long overall, 1–1.5 cm in diameter when convolute. Spadix shortly stipitate, slender, narrowly cylindric, obtuse at the apex, 8–10 cm long, scarcely 8 mm thick; the pistillate portion of the inflorescence about 2½ times shorter than the staminate portion. Pistils depressed-cylindric, 1.5 mm long.
ECOLOGY:
Found in Bolivia, around San Antonio near Mapiri and at Espíritu Santo, flowering June to December.
ETYMOLOGY:
The protologue does not explicitly explain the epithet, but caudatum clearly derives from the Latin cauda, “tail,” referring to the very slender, sharply pointed, tail-like cusp 3–4 cm long at the tip of the spathe, the feature the description highlights as most distinctive.
NOTES:
1. This species is very closely allied to the preceding one in the protologue, Philodendron guttiferum, but is clearly distinguished by its very long, tail-like, cuspidate spathe apex.
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Philodendron caudatum
2. Das Pflanzenreich IV. 23Db(Heft 60): 13 (1913) — protologue.