PHILODENDRON CHRYSOCARPUM
PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron chrysocarpum , published in Novon 18: 432 (2008).
Philodendron chrysocarpum Croat & D. C. Bay, sp. nov. TYPE: Colombia. Valle: Bajo Calima region, Buenaventura–Málaga rd., vic. of Km 50.7, less than 100 m, 12 July 1993, T. B. Croat & D. C. Bay 75684 (holotype, MO-04572419; isotypes, B, CAS, COL, CUVC, F, K, MEXU, NY, PMA, QCNE, SEL, TEX, US, VEN).
Planta hemiepiphytica aut terrestris; internodia interdum obtuse costata, 0.4–4 cm longa, 0.5–3 cm lata, nitida; cataphylla 14–15.5 cm longa, acute 2-costata, decidua intacta. Folia erecta vel patentia; petiolus (5.3–)6.5–9.5 cm longus, 2–4 mm diam. in sicco, profunde sulcatus usque ad medium, cum annulo purpureo apice; lamina elliptica, 23.5–30 cm longa, 5–9 cm lata, nervis lateralibus primariis utroque plus quam 30, indistinctis. Inflorescentia solitaria; pedunculus 2–4 cm longus; spatha 12–19 cm longa, viridi-alba. Pistilla 6–11 mm diam.; ovarium 5-loculare, loculis 6- ad 8-ovulatis.
DISTRIBUTION: Colombia: Colombia.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Usually hemiepiphytic, occasionally terrestrial; stem appressed-climbing or scandent; internodes sometimes bluntly ribbed, 0.4–4 × 0.5–3 cm, longer than wide, yellow-green to dark green, sometimes tinged purple, glossy, drying smooth, with some transverse fissures, olive-tan to red-brown to brown; roots few to several per node, highly branched, glossy, red-brown, drying smooth, red-brown to medium brown; cataphylls 14–15.5 cm, sharply 2-ribbed, long-tapered and acute at apex, medium green, tinged purple, drying reddish brown, deciduous while intact. LEAVES erect to spreading; petioles (5.3–)6.5–9.5 cm × 2–4 mm (dry), deeply sulcate so as to appear sheathed in lower 1/3–2/3, terete toward apex, obtusely flattened adaxially, medium green tinged purple or red toward apex, drying dark, red-brown to brown; geniculum marked with a narrow (1–2 mm) purple ring at the apex, drying dark brown; blades elliptic, subcoriaceous, acuminate at apex, attenuate at base, 23.5–30 × 5–9 cm, 3.4–4.8(–5.2)× longer than wide, 2.6–3.8× longer than petiole; adaxial surface moderately glossy, medium green, somewhat bicolorous, drying glossy, reddish green or reddish olive-green, abaxial surface glossy and paler than adaxially fresh and dried; midrib broadly raised and slightly paler than blade adaxially, bluntly acute to narrowly rounded and much paler than blade or purple abaxially; primary lateral veins more than 30 per side, departing midrib at 45°, obscure on both surfaces; all other veins obscure adaxially and abaxially.
INFLORESCENCE:
INFLORESCENCES erect, 1 per axil; peduncle 2–4 cm × 5–7 mm, shorter than petiole, yellowish green to dark green, drying dark red-brown; spathe long-tapered, outside dark yellow-green, striate toward base, inside greenish white with orange resin canals to within 2 cm of the apex, drying dark red-brown, only slightly constricted where the pistillate portion of the spadix ends, 12–19 cm long; spathe blade 6–9 cm; spathe tube 6.5–10 cm; spadix cylindrical, 8–15.5 cm; pistillate portion green turning pale yellow at anthesis, 2–6 cm × 8–10 mm (dry); staminate portion white, 6.5–9.5 cm × 8–10 mm (dry); sterile staminate portion to 2.5 cm long, narrower than other regions at anthesis; pistils 6–11 mm diam., ovary 5-locular, ovules with basal placentation, 6 to 8 per locule; sterile staminate flowers unknown. INFRUCTESCENCE with pistillate spadix ca. 8 × 2 cm (dry), berries globular, bright golden yellow-orange with red stigmas.
ECOLOGY:
Found in Tropical rain forest transition to Premontane (T–rf/P) below 150 m on the western slopes of the Cordillera Occidental, Valle Department, and in Tropical wet forest (T–wf) to 465 m elevation in Chocó, Colombia; collected in dense primary forest, regrowth forest, along roadsides, and in mangrove swamps.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek chryso-, “golden,” and karpos, “fruit,” referring to the bright golden yellow-orange berries — the protologue states this explicitly as the source of the epithet chrysocarpum.
NOTES:
1. Philodendron chrysocarpum is a member of subgenus Philodendron, section Macrobelium, subsection Macrobelium, series Macrobelium and is characterized by its purple-tinged petioles that are sulcate in the lower 1/3 to 2/3, the narrow-elliptic blades, and midrib that is convex adaxially and often purple abaxially with other venation obscure. Also characteristic is the striated spathe that is green on both surfaces, and the golden yellow-orange fruit, hence the epithet chrysocarpum (“chryso” meaning golden and “carp” meaning fruit).
2. It is most easily confused with Philodendron coriaceum, which also has elliptic blades with obscure veins, but a generally darker yellow-orange fruit. Philodendron coriaceum differs in having very coriaceous leaves 1.6–2.3(–2.6)× longer than broad, a flat midrib that is much paler adaxially and pale green abaxially, and a spathe tube that is red inside and usually also on the outside.
3. One specimen collected from Bahía Estero de Bodegas on the south shore of Buenaventura Bay, Killip & Cuatrecasas 38669, appears to be this species, but differs in having blades that are much wider (1.4–2.7× longer than wide), and truncate to slightly cordate at the base.
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Philodendron chrysocarpum
2. Novon 18: 432 (2008) — protologue.