SYNGONIUM ERYTHROPHYLLUM
PROTOLOGUE: Syngonium erythrophyllum , published in Baileya 14: 17 (1966).
Syngonium erythrophyllum Birdsey ex Bunting, sp. nov. Folia stirpium juvenilium simplicia; lamina elliptico-oblonga, ad 14 cm. longa et 5 cm. lata, ad apicem rotundata et apiculata, leviter basim versus contracta et illinc in lobis 2 posticis auriculato-rotundatis extensa, nervis lateralibus primariis utrinque 4 valde arcuatis; petiolus ad 5 cm. longus, fere ad apicem anguste vaginatus. Lamina foliorum intermediorum hastato-trilobata, lobis omnibus ad basim conjunctis. Lamina foliorum stirpium adultarum profunde tripartita, lobis omnino separatis, supra nitida atroviridis, infra rubro-purpurascens vel viridis, lobo medio elliptico vel lanceolato-elliptico, ad apicem acuto vel acuminato, cuspidato, ad 20.5 cm. longo, 7.7 cm. lato, eius nervis primariis lateralibus utrinque ca. 3 angulo acuto a costa abeuntibus et arcuatim adscendentibus, at sine nervulis connectivis (!), lobis lateralibus lanceolato-oblongis, ad 12.8 cm. longis, 4.3 cm. latis, ad apicem rotundatis, ad basim obliquis, aliquando inaequilateralibus, lobi cuiusque lateralis latere interno ad basim cuneato decurrenteque, latere externo gibboso abrupteque angustato, costula ad 1.2 cm. nuda; petiolus ad 18 cm. longus, sub 5-3 cm. infra apicem anguste vaginatus, parte summa acute 3-angulari. Pedunculus 7 cm. longus; spatha 17 cm. longa, quam spadix ca. 5 cm. longior, tubo viridi 6 cm. longo, 2.3 cm. crasso, fusiformi, lamina alba ad 11 cm. longa, ad 5.5 cm. lata; spadix 9.5 cm. longus, parte pistillata 1.7 cm. longa, parte staminata 6.2 cm. longa et ad ca. 1.0 cm. crassa, parte infima sterili 1.8 cm. longa, multo angustiore. Holotype: W. R. Maxon & A. D. Harvey 6536, near Fort Randolph, Canal Zone, Panamá, 26 May 1923, 3 m, on trunk of tree at edge of mangrove swamp (US).
DISTRIBUTION: Panama: Panama.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Panama: Colón (Panama), Panamá Province.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Nomadic vine; juvenile plants often solitary; stems with short internodes, later scandent, branching, slender, leafy; juvenile blades ovate, 3–9 cm long, ± cordate at base, lobes rounded, sinus ± arcuate with decurrent petiole, upper surface blackish green, lower surface at first green, soon becoming deep violet-purple; juvenile blades on climbing stems larger, simple, sagittate, dark green above, deep violet-purple below, 9–17 cm long, becoming indistinctly 3-lobed; petioles 11–20 cm long, sheathed to near apex. Adult plants with stems sometimes branching; internodes green, not glaucous, usually less than 1 cm wide, periderm thin, minutely papillate, flaking and pale reddish brown at maturity. Leaves with petioles 9–20 cm long, sheathed 4/5 or nearly throughout their length; blades trisect, subcoriaceous, surface dark green and shiny above, paler beneath, usually green, sometimes violet-purple; leaflets usually completely free, spreading or slightly overlapping, acuminate to rounded at the apex, ending abruptly with a minute apiculum; median leaflet elliptic to lanceolate-elliptic or narrowly ovate, 10–22 cm long, 4.5–10.0 cm wide, obtuse to attenuate at base; lateral leaflets 4.5–10.0 cm long, 1.2–4.3 cm wide, elliptic to lanceolate or oblong, obtusely and narrowly rounded at apex, base inequilateral but not auricled.⁴
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences usually 2 or 3 per axil; peduncle 3–11 cm long, green, not glaucous, erect at anthesis, pendent in fruit; spathe equal to or longer than spadix; spathe tube green, 2–4 cm long, 1.0–1.5 cm diam., ovoid to ellipsoid; spathe blade white, ovoid to ellipsoid (when flattened), 8–11 cm long, 5–6 cm wide, weakly reflexed away from spadix at anthesis; spadix 9.0–13.5 cm long; pistillate portion of spadix to 1.5–1.8 cm long, pistils ca. 1.4 mm diam., stigmas discoid, ca. 0.9 mm diam.; staminate portion of inflorescence 6.5–10.0 cm long, (fertile part 6–9 cm long), flowers 4-androus, truncate or slightly retuse at apex, pollen white in arachnoid clusters. Infructescences ovoid, yellowish green outside, maroon inside, 3–5 cm long, tube opening at maturity; seeds white, ± oblong, rounded on one end, apiculate and angled on other end, 6–7 mm long. Flowers have been found mostly March-June and fruits in August-September.⁴
ECOLOGY:
Syngonium erythrophyllum is known only from Panama at elevations from sea level to 350 m in Tropical moist forest and Premontane wet forest life zones.⁴ altitude: 0–350 m
ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek erythros, "red," and phyllon, "leaf," referring to the red to purplish undersides of the leaf blades. The name was proposed by Monroe Birdsey and published by George Bunting in 1966.⁴
NOTES:
1. The species is a member of sect. Syngonium and is not confused with any other species but is recognized by its dried stems with a conspicuous, flaky, reddish brown periderm, by its thick, trisect, slightly auriculate leaf blade (with violet-purple lower surfaces, at least on juvenile blades) with apex of the lobes frequently rounded and apiculate-tipped. On Barro Colorado Island⁶ this species produces abundant juvenile plants but few adult plants were seen during more than three years of fieldwork there.⁴
2. One of three species proposed in Monroe Birdsey's unpublished 1955 Harvard thesis on the genus; Birdsey's name was published for him by George Bunting in 1966, together with Syngonium mauroanum, while the third, Syngonium triphyllum, waited for Croat's revision.⁴
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Syngonium erythrophyllum
2. Baileya 14: 17 (1966) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Syngonium erythrophyllum
6. Croat 1978. Flora of Barro Colorado Island. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California
Additional photo by Patrick Blanc
Additional photos by David Scherberich
Additional photos from iNaturalist by Armen Enikolopov, Daniel Mesa and Judah S