PHILODENDRON CRASPEDODROMUM

PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron craspedodromum , published in Rhodora 66: 118 (1964). The protologue is reproduced below.

DISTRIBUTION: Colombia: Colombia.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Translated from protologue: An epiphytic, somewhat twining plant. Stem thick. Petiole of the crowded leaves thick, conspicuously grooved, up to 45 cm long at the middle, 13 mm in diameter. Blade very coriaceous, very glossy above, pale green beneath, lanceolate-elliptic, conspicuously cordate at the base, shortly acuminate at the apex, the midrib thick and striate when dry, about 1 cm in diameter at the base, traversed by numerous, mostly equal and parallel lateral veins that arise from the rib — broad below, narrowing upward — at a mostly obtuse angle and ascend in a slight arch toward the margin.

INFLORESCENCE:

Translated from protologue: Peduncle nearly equaling the spathe, terete but thickened toward the apex, green, about 12 cm long, 5–6 mm in diameter. Spathe green outside, about 14 cm long. Spadix stipitate (1 cm), nearly equaling the spathe, to 12 cm long; the female inflorescence 4.5 cm long, thickened at the base and 1.7 cm in diameter; the male part 5–5.5 cm long, about 6 mm in diameter; the sterile part of the male section 1–1.4 cm long. Pistil broadly columnar, strongly truncate at the apex, not angled, about 3 mm long, 1.5 mm in diameter, armed with a subcircular, hairy stigma and a fleshy corona; the male flowers diandrous, the staminodes truncate, irregularly elongate-rhomboid, mostly 0.5 mm long, 0.3 × 0.8 mm wide.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek kraspedon, "edge" or "border," and dromos, "a running" or "course," referring to the leaf's numerous lateral veins, which run in slightly arched, nearly parallel courses to the margin — the craspedodromous venation pattern the epithet names.

REFERENCES:

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

2. Rhodora 66: 118 (1964) — protologue.