PHILODENDRON DANTEANUM
PROTOLOGUE: Philodendron danteanum , published in Acta Botanica Venezuelica 10: 294 (1975). The protologue is reproduced below.
DISTRIBUTION: N. Venezuela: Venezuela.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Translated from protologue: Large climbing herb, to 4 m long or more. Stem 10 cm thick, the internodes shortened. Cataphyll withering, later deciduous. Petiole subterete, slightly flattened ventrally toward the base, above more or less semiterete but convex ventrally, to 1 m long or more and 2.3 cm thick, olive-colored, rusty-spotted in the upper third. Leaf blade slightly shorter than the petiole, reflexed, subcoriaceous, to 90 cm long and 48–50 cm wide, triangular-ovate in outline, sagittate at the base, acuminate at the apex, the margin undulate and rose-edged, pinnately lobulate (for less than one-third of the distance from the margin to the midrib), the lobules broadly obtuse, about 9–10 on each side on the outer margin, corresponding in number to the primary lateral veins; primary veins of the midrib 6–7 on each side, arching, at 55°–70°, and about 3 leaving each posterior rib on the outer side; posterior lobes with about 3–4 lobules on the inner side, trapezoid in outline, mostly touching or overlapping, separated by a more or less rhombic sinus 22–27 cm long, the posterior ribs naked in the sinus for about 5 cm; adaxially dark green and glaucescent, the midrib flat and 1.2 cm wide, the posterior ribs and primary veins moderately convex and sparsely rusty-spotted; abaxially yellowish green and slightly glossy, the midrib strongly angular-raised, the primary veins convex and rusty-spotted.
INFLORESCENCE:
Translated from protologue: Inflorescences at least three together. Peduncle 9 cm long, green, wine-red in the apical 1 cm. Spathe to 19 cm long; tube ellipsoid-obovoid, 10–11 cm long and 5 cm wide, pale green outside and irregularly rusty-spotted and rusty-dotted, intensely mauve-rusty inside; blade acuminate with a long, recurved mucro, whitish outside and marked with rusty, whitish inside. Spadix equaling the spathe, obtuse at the apex, subsessile but with 0.5 cm of naked axis in front, 17 cm long; pistillate part 6 cm long and 2 cm in diameter; sterile staminate part 2.5 cm long and 2 cm in diameter, fertile part 8 cm long and 1.5 cm in diameter. Pistillate flowers subcylindrical, the ovary 6–8-locular, with 3–5 ovules in each locule attached near the base.
ECOLOGY:
The type plant, cultivated in Caracas, was brought from the wild on Cerro Ávila or, alternatively, from the sea-facing slope of Cerro Naiguatá above the town of Naiguatá (ca. 2,000 m), Distrito Federal.
ETYMOLOGY:
Named in honor of Dante Bianchi, a landscape architect of Caracas who introduced this elegant species into cultivation. The epithet danteanum is formed from his given name with the Latin suffix-anum, “belonging to,” and means “of Dante.”
NOTES:
1. The type specimen was collected from a cultivated plant at Parque del Este in Caracas, brought into cultivation by Dante Bianchi; no wild-collected specimen is cited in the original description.
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Philodendron danteanum
2. Acta Botanica Venezuelica 10: 294 (1975) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Philodendron danteanum
Additional photos from iNaturalist by Edd and LFRocha