SYNGONIUM HASTIFOLIUM
PROTOLOGUE: Syngonium hastifolium , published in Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 37: 141 (1905). The protologue is reproduced below.
DISTRIBUTION: SE. Colombia to Peru and N. Brazil: Brazil North, Colombia, Peru.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Brazil: Amazonas (Brazil).
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Scandent hemiepiphyte; stem thick; petiole ca. 25 cm long, sheathed more than ⅗ of its length, the sheath free-ending and rounded at the apex; blade entire, acuminate at the apex, conspicuously hastate at the base, 20–25 cm long, the anterior lobe 15–18 cm long, 7.5–8.5 cm wide, constricted at the base, ca. 6.5 cm wide at the constriction, the sides broadly rounded, the posterior lobes slightly unequal, directed outward at ca. 45° angle, 10–11 cm long, 4–4.5 cm wide at their widest point, almost acute at the apex; the primary lateral veins 4–6, per side, joining the midrib at 30–45° angle; primary collective vein ca. 4 mm from the margin; posterior rib extending straight to the tip of the posterior lobe.³
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences several, erect; prophylls linear-oblong, acute at the apex, 10–15 cm long; peduncles 5–6 cm long; spathe tube oblong, ca. 4 cm long, ca. 1 cm diam.; spathe blade ovate-oblong, acute at the apex, 6–7 cm long, ca. 5 cm wide; pistillate portion of the spadix ca. 1.5 cm long, ca. 5 mm diam.; staminate portion of the spadix ca. 5 cm long, ca. 1 cm diam. (dried). Infructescences unknown.³
ECOLOGY:
The type collection was in flower in October.³
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin hasta, "spear," and folium, "leaf," referring to the spear-shaped (hastate) leaf blades. Engler described the species in 1905 from a gathering by Ule on the lower Juruá River near Fortaleza, in Amazonian Brazil, flowering in October 1901.²
NOTES:
1. It is believed to have a close affinity with Syngonium podophyllum and may merely represent an unusual, prematurely flowering individual since the leaves are virtually identical to the pre-adult leaves of that species. For an illustration of this species see Field Museum type photo #12293.³
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Syngonium hastifolium
2. Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 37: 141 (1905) — protologue.