SYNGONIUM CRASSIFOLIUM
PROTOLOGUE: Syngonium crassifolium , published in Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 68: 591 (1982).
Syngonium crassifolium (Engler) Croat, comb. nov. Basionym: Porphyrospatha crassifolia Engler, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 37:140. 1905. Type: Colombia, Antioquia, am Riachon über Amalfi, 1800 m, Lehmann (Sept. 1884) (B, holotype).
SYNONYMS:
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Porphyrospatha crassifolia Engl.
DISTRIBUTION: NW. Venezuela to Ecuador: Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Colombia: Antioquia Venezuela: Mérida.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Juvenile plants with scandent stems; internodes 10–20 cm or more long, ca. 1 cm diam., petioles sheathed to beyond the middle; intermediate stems climbing; petioles 15–20 cm long, sheathed ca. ⅔ their length; juvenile blades simple, ovate-oblong, abruptly acuminate at the apex, weakly hastate at the base, 15–25 cm long, 8–13 cm wide, the anterior lobe weakly constricted at the base, the posterior lobes 4–8 cm long, narrowly rounded to acute at the apex. Adult plants epiphytic or hemiepiphytic, stem to 1 m or more long, 4–6 cm diam.; internodes to 10 cm long, much shorter near the apex, yellowish brown on drying; petioles 45–70 cm long, sheathed ¾ their length, the upper part weakly flattened adaxially near the base of the blade, becoming obtusely 1-ribbed toward the sheath, the sheath free at the apex; blades entire, ovate-hastate, abruptly acuminate at the apex, conspicuously lobed at the base, 35–70 cm long, 23–40 cm wide, the anterior lobe with the sides broadly rounded, sometimes weakly constricted at the base, the posterior lobes directed outward at ca. 45° angle, 15–25 cm long, usually narrowly rounded at the apex, the sinus 6–15 cm deep, usually narrow, sometimes as broad as deep, the lower surface slightly paler than the upper surface; primary lateral veins 10–13 pairs, joining the midrib at ca. 30° angle, sunken on the upper surface, raised on the lower surface; reticulate veins obscurely visible on the upper surface, clearly visible beneath; posterior rib prominently raised, extending straight to the apex of the posterior lobes, naked 2–3 cm; primary collective vein less than 1 cm from the margin.²
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences several, erect; peduncles 8–15 cm long; spathe tube pale green, to 7 cm long, bluntly ribbed adaxially; spathe blade creamy white, oblong-elliptic, 9–11 cm long, constricted at the base and articulating along an elevated ring well above the end of the pistillate part of the spadix; spadix ca. 12 cm long; pistillate portion of the spadix grayish, 2–3 cm long, ca. 1 cm diam.; staminate portion of the spadix creamy white, 8–10.5 cm long, slightly narrower toward the apex, ca. 1.5 cm diam. midway, the synandrium regularly 4-lobed and truncate at the apex, weakly incised between the anthers. Infructescences pendent, yellowish, to ca. 9 cm long and 4.5 cm diam.²
ECOLOGY:
The species is known from Colombia and Ecuador on the Pacific slope and in Venezuela in the state of Mérida. The species has been collected in flower from June through October and mature fruits have been seen in late October.²
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin crassus, "thick," and folium, "leaf," referring to the thick, leathery leaf blades. Engler coined the name as Porphyrospatha crassifolia; Croat transferred it to Syngonium in his 1981 revision.²
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Syngonium crassifolium
2. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 68: 591 (1982) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Syngonium crassifolium
Additional photo from iNaturalist by Kabir Montesinos