PHILODENDRON CORCOVADENSE

PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron corcovadense , published in Enumeratio Plantarum Omnium Hucusque Cognitarum, Secundum Familias Naturales Disposita, Adjectis Characteribus, Differntiis et Synonymis 3: 49 (1841). The protologue is reproduced below.

SYNONYMS:

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Thaumatophyllum corcovadense (Kunth) Sakur., Calazans & Mayo

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: Philodendron melanorrhizum Reitz

DISTRIBUTION: E. & S. Brazil: Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast.

DISTRIBUTION NOTE: iNaturalist: Espírito Santo, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, São Paulo.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Translated from protologue: Caulescent; rooting; leaves long-petiolate, deeply subhastate-cordate, acuminate, five-nerved, papery-leathery and glossy when dried; basal lobes rounded on the inner side, bluntly angled on the outer side, spreading; petioles sheathing toward the base.

INFLORESCENCE:

Translated from protologue: Spadices axillary, pedunculate, slightly exceeding the petiole in length; spathes convolute at the base, elliptic, acute, equaling the spadix in length.

ECOLOGY:

Found in Brazil, on the Corcovado (Rio de Janeiro), growing on the trunks of trees.

ETYMOLOGY:

The protologue does not explicitly explain the epithet, but corcovadense clearly derives from Corcovado, the granite peak overlooking Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where the type specimen was collected growing on tree trunks.

NOTES:

1. In the protologue the species itself is marked with a query (“? Philodendron corcovadense”), reflecting the author's uncertainty about its identity and generic placement. He compares it to material that Luschnath had named “Caladium?,” preserved in the herbarium of Lucae, and to a plate in the Flora Fluminensis (as Arum arborescens), noting that the stem appeared prickly, with hooked, spine-like scars left by fallen leaves, as shown in that plate. He judged it sufficiently distinct from Philodendron arborescens, but similar to the preceding species in his account.

STORY:

STORY TITLE: A basket-weaver’s root, and its shrinking supply

Along the Atlantic Forest coast of Paraná, harvesters known as cipozeiros strip the aerial roots of Philodendron corcovadense — called locally cipó-preto or cipó-imbé — to weave rustic baskets and containers sold in nearby cities; in the rural communities of São Joãozinho and Descoberto alone, 27 families depend on the trade, and a single root needs about 15 months to reach a size worth cutting.³

A follow-up study measured what that demand does to the plant: years of intensive harvesting measurably shrink the size of the roots that regrow, a pattern that ran counter to what local harvesters themselves believed about their own practice, leading the researchers to call for closer monitoring, adjusted harvest rules and work toward domesticating the species instead.⁴

REFERENCES:

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

2. Enumeratio Plantarum Omnium Hucusque Cognitarum, Secundum Familias Naturales Disposita, Adjectis Characteribus, Differntiis et Synonymis 3: 49 (1841) — protologue.

3. Valente TP, Negrelle RRB. 2011. Harvesting of cipó-preto (roots of Philodendron corcovadense Kunth) in the South of Brazil. Forests, Trees and Livelihoods 20(2-3): 211–212.

4. Valente TP, Negrelle RRB. 2013. Sustainability of non-timber forest products harvesting – cipó-preto roots (Philodendron corcovadense Kunth) in south Brazil. Forests, Trees and Livelihoods 22(3).

5. iNaturalist: Philodendron corcovadense

Additional photos from iNaturalist by Celso Henrique Varela Rios, Fabrício Mil Homens Riella, B. Phalan, 薛映月, Marcos Mortara, Alex Reis, Vitor Abdala, Alexandre Magno, fmunoz, Gabriel Abreu, Luís A. Funez, Patrícia Mees, rogeriotruglio and Gabriel Bonfa