PHILODENDRON 'CORSINIANUM'
PARENTAGE:
Philodendron pinnatifidum (inferred by the registry; recorded as Philodendron lucidum) × Philodendron verrucosum (recorded as Philodendron lindenii)
ORIGIN:
Created before 1888 in the public gardens of “Le Cascine” in Florence, Italy, by the foreman Ferdinando Ragioneri and the director Cav. A. Pucci; the registry records release in 1890; accepted by the IAS Aroid Cultivar Registry.
HYBRIDIZER:
Ferdinando Ragioneri
DESCRIPTION:
A slow climber with a scrambling habit, described as an ornamental stove (hothouse) aroid. The leaves are 11–18 inches broad, deeply cordate-ovate, acute, and shortly pinnatifidly lobed, with the roundish basal lobes separated by a narrow, acute sinus 4.5–7 cm deep. They are bright deep green above and dull purple between the green veins beneath, changing to green with age. The midrib is flat above and very prominent beneath. There are about seven primary veins on each side of the midrib, the two basal ones close together and the others distant, impressed above and prominent beneath; the basal lobes have 5–6 primary veins, all united into one at the base, where it is shortly denuded at the sinus. When young, the leaves are deeply tinged with coppery brown, a color that almost disappears as they age. The inflorescences are solitary in each axil. The peduncle is short and green with whitish lines. The spathe has an ellipsoid tube 3 inches long, rich purple-crimson with scattered spots of crimson-brown and numerous rows of minute white dots outside, and bright deep carmine inside; the limb is 4–4.5 inches long and 2⅓–2¾ inches broad, boat-shaped with a short convolute point, light green and spotted with red outside, carmine with darker spots inside, and shading into white at the margins. The spadix is 6–6½ inches long and ½–⅔ inch thick, terete, acute, slightly curved forward, and creamy white. The record notes that, for a climbing species, it appears to be of comparatively slow growth: a plant at Kew, acquired in 1898, was then only about 8 feet high with a spread of about 6 feet.¹
NOTES:
STATUS - Accepted by the International Aroid Society’s Aroid Cultivar Registry. Established.
1. A hybrid cultivar created before 1888 in the public gardens of “Le Cascine” in Florence, Italy, by the foreman Ferdinando Ragioneri and the director Cav. A. Pucci. The registry names Ferdinando Ragioneri as originator and namer.¹
2. The registry records release in 1890. Its origin text states that the hybrid was first published in 1888 in the Bullettino della Reale Società Toscana d’Orticultura and won a Certificate of Merit from the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of Ghent as part of an international exposition in 1887.¹ An earlier report dates it to 1884: at the May 1884 meeting of the horticultural society in Florence, the municipal garden showed it as one of two new hybrids, printed as Philodendron Corsinianum, from Philodendron lucidum and Philodendron lindenii, with a spathe of a beautiful cherry red and a pleasant scent.²
3. The registry’s origin text records the hybrid as a cross of Philodendron lindenii (pollen) and Philodendron lucidum (ovule). It states that Philodendron lindenii is a synonym of Philodendron verrucosum and, considering the marcescent fibrous cataphylls, short internodes, vinaceous extrafloral nectaries, scalloped leaf margins, leaf blade size, red-spotted spathe, and other qualities of the inflorescence, that there is a high possibility that the second parent is Philodendron pinnatifidum, a species widely available in European collections when the hybrid was created. The identification of Philodendron pinnatifidum is therefore the registry’s inference and is not part of the recorded parentage. The registry lists Philodendron pinnatifidum as seed parent and Philodendron verrucosum as pollen parent.¹
4. A descriptive passage in the registry record, which says the parentage was not mentioned, suggests that Philodendron verrucosum may have been one of the parents, judging from the purple tint on the undersides of the leaves, a coloration unusual in the genus. The same passage says the hybrid was raised by the firm of Messrs. Makoy of Liège, which was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Royal Agricultural and Botanical Society of Ghent in 1887.¹
5. The name honors Prince Corsini, then Mayor of Florence. The entire stock of the plant was purchased by Messrs. Makoy of Liège.¹
REFERENCES:
1. International Aroid Society Aroid Cultivar Registry: Philodendron 'Corsinianum'
2. Gartenflora 33: 280 (1884) — report of the May 1884 meeting of the horticultural society in Florence.