PHILODENDRON CUNEATUM
PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron cuneatum , published in Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 6: 281 (1885). The protologue is reproduced below.
DISTRIBUTION: Colombia to N. Peru: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Translated from protologue: Stem climbing. Cataphylls linear-lanceolate, deciduous. Petiole of the leaves shorter than the blade, shortly sheathing, keeled on the back, flat on the front; blade obovate-lanceolate, narrowing in a wedge from the uppermost third toward the base, acuminate, acute; primary lateral veins about 12 on each side, spreading at an angle of about 50° and slightly arched toward the margin. Stem to 3 dm long. Petiole 1.5 dm long, about 5 mm thick; blade coriaceous, 3 dm long, 1.5 dm wide above, furnished with an acute acumen 1 cm long, the lateral veins 1.5–2.5 cm apart.
INFLORESCENCE:
Translated from protologue: Inflorescences several, arising near the base of the petiole; peduncle shorter than the spathe; spathe convoluted, constricted in the middle, yellow; spadix obliquely sessile, slender; the female part of the spadix equaling a quarter of it, acute, narrowed below and slightly sigmoid-curved, separated from the fertile male part, which is nearly three times longer, by a somewhat thicker ring of sterile male flowers; ovaries oblong, 5–6-loculed, crowned with a thick, long-hairy, brownish stigma, the locules many-ovuled; ovules hemianatropous, ascending, attached at the central angle; male flowers 2–3-androus, the stamens shorter than their own width, with linear-oblong thecae. Peduncles 3–3.5 cm long. Spathe 6–7 cm long, its tube 1–1.5 cm wide. Female part of the spadix inflorescence about 1 cm long, 3 mm thick; sterile male part 4 mm; fertile part 3–3.5 cm, 2 mm thick below, 3 mm thick in the middle and above. Gynoecia a little over 1 mm long. Stamens only 0.5 mm long, 1 mm wide.
ECOLOGY:
Found on trees in dense, humid forest beside the Dagua River, on the plain, in Cauca, Colombia.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin cuneatus, “wedge-shaped,” referring to the leaf blade, which the protologue describes as narrowing in a wedge from its upper third down to the base.
NOTES:
1. This species is not closely related to any other; it should be placed, in this classification, near Philodendron fibrillosum Poepp., though it differs from that species in many characters.
2. Type locality: Cauca, Colombia, beside the Dagua River, on the plain (F. C. Lehmann 2765), collected in March.
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Philodendron cuneatum
2. Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 6: 281 (1885) — protologue.