PHILODENDRON CURVILOBUM

PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron curvilobum , published in Synopsis Aroidearum Complectens Enumerationem Systematicam Generum et Specierum Huju Ordinis 102 (1856). The protologue is reproduced below.

DISTRIBUTION: SE. Brazil: Brazil Southeast.

DISTRIBUTION NOTE: iNaturalist: São Paulo.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Translated from protologue: Petiole flattened above, as long as the midrib or shorter; leaf blade oblong, long-cuspidate, slightly hastate with a very open sinus, the posterior lobes divaricate, oblong, their apex very obtuse and curved upward; the veins of the anterior lobe three or more, spreading, sunk in a groove above; the secondary veins slender, all the veinlets running forward finely and very closely together.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin curvus, “curved,” and lobus, “lobe,” referring to the leaf blade's posterior lobes, whose apex Schott's own description calls very obtuse and curved upward (apice obtusissimo sursum curvatis).

NOTES:

1. Type locality: Brazil; the protologue gives no locality more precise than the bare country name.

2. Schott's description was based on an adolescens (immature, non-flowering) specimen, which is why the protologue records no inflorescence for this species.

3. Schott placed curvilobum in his infrageneric group Grex 18, Doratophyllum, whose shared diagnosis calls for a scandent habit, a glabrous petiole, a hastate leaf blade with somewhat thick veins, three to seven veins on the anterior lobe, and solitary peduncles.

REFERENCES:

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

2. Synopsis Aroidearum Complectens Enumerationem Systematicam Generum et Specierum Huju Ordinis 102 (1856) — protologue.

3. iNaturalist: Philodendron curvilobum

Additional photos from iNaturalist by Marcos Mortara, henrycc, Alexandre da Silva Medeiros and andré