SYNGONIUM FOREROANUM

PROTOLOGUE: Syngonium foreroanum , published in Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 68: 594 (1982).

Syngonium foreroanum Croat, sp. nov. Planta hemiepiphytica; petiolus 45–47 cm longus, usque ad ⅓ longitudinis vaginatus; lamina tenuis, ovata, apice acuminata, lobo antico 17.5–20 cm longo, lobi posticis 10.5–15 cm longis, apice acutis obtuse, sinu basali apice obtuso aut rotundato; venis basalibus ad marginem confluentibus 1.2–1.5 cm; folia venis lateralibus utroque latere 3–4. Inflorescentia solitaria?; pedunculus 11–12 cm longus; spathae tubus oblongus-ellipticus, 6.5 cm longus; spathae lamina 12 cm longa; spadix parte feminea 2 cm longa, fusiformi, parte masculina 7 mm diam., apice acuta. Type: Colombia, Chocó, Municipio of San José del Palmar, on a hill SW of the village, 1300 m, Forero, Gentry, Sugden & Daly 3385 (COL-96613, holotype).

DISTRIBUTION: NW. Colombia: Colombia.

DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Colombia: Chocó.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION:

Hemiepiphytic creeper; stems 1.5 cm diam.; upper internodes ca. 1.5 cm long or shorter; petioles 45–47 cm long, sheathed 15–17 cm at the base, the sheath ca. 2 cm high near the base, weakly free-ending and acute at the apex, the unsheathed part cylindrical, ca. 4 mm diam. on drying; blades entire, ovate, abruptly acuminate or bluntly acute at the apex, deeply lobed at the base, 28–31 cm long, 19–21 cm wide, drying chartaceous, matte, the anterior lobe 17.5–20 cm long; the posterior lobes 10.5–15 cm long, directed somewhat outward, bluntly acute at the apex; sinus rounded at the apex, 2.5–3.5 cm wide; primary lateral veins 3–4 per side, arising from the midrib at 35–55° angle, weakly curved to the collective vein; secondary and tertiary veins distinct, flat; primary collective vein 2–4 mm from the margin, moderately straight, basal veins usually 3, the posterior rib straight to the tip of the posterior lobes, naked 12–15 mm at the base.²

INFLORESCENCE:

Inflorescences solitary (?); peduncles 11–12 cm long, ca. 4 mm diam. (dried); spathe ca. 15 cm long; spathe tube ca. 6.5 cm long, ca. 1.6 cm diam., greenish; spathe blade 4 cm wide, acuminate (?) at the apex, moderately thin, at least sometimes weakly purplish-spotted throughout; spadix slender, 12 cm long; pistillate portion of the spadix fusiform, ca. 2 cm long, 7 mm diam.; sterile staminate portion of the spadix conspicuously constricted at the base, ca. 2.5 cm long, gradually broadened onto the fertile portion, the sterile staminate flowers broadest in the direction of the axis, the apex 3–3.5 mm long, 1.5 mm broad, the fertile staminate portion ca. 7.5 cm long, 7 mm diam., narrowly acute at the apex, the flowers 2 mm long, 1.5–2.5 mm diam., irregularly shaped, the margin irregularly scalloped. Infructescences unknown.²

ECOLOGY:

It was collected at 1300 m elevation in an area that is probably premontane wet forest. Another specimen collected at sea level (Forero et al. 4367) in the delta of the Río San Juan in southern Chocó might also be this species. It is described as an epiphyte but looks more like a Xanthosoma.² altitude: 1300 m

ETYMOLOGY:

Named for the Colombian botanist Enrique Forero, who collected the type in the Chocó Department of Colombia in 1976 and whose collections supplied most of what Croat knew of the species when he described it.²

NOTES:

1. It differs principally in having an ovate-triangular blade with narrowly acute lobes. Syngonium foreroanum is most similar to Syngonium crassifolium but differs from it by its smaller leaves, fewer primary lateral veins, and more delicate inflorescences.²

REFERENCES:

1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Syngonium foreroanum

2. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 68: 594 (1982) — protologue.