SYNGONIUM PELIOCLADUM
PROTOLOGUE: Syngonium peliocladum , published in Prodromus Systematis Aroidearum 202 (1860). The protologue is reproduced below.
SYNONYMS:
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Syngonium podophyllum var. peliocladum (Schott) Croat
DISTRIBUTION: Costa Rica to W. Panama: Costa Rica, Panama.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Costa Rica: Heredia, Limón Panama: Bocas del Toro, Panamá Province.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Nomadic vine; juvenile plants with stems not glaucous, usually dark violet-purple; petioles sheathed from 1/2 to nearly entire length; blades hastate to sagittate, anterior lobe ovate, acuminate, the posterior lobes ovate to lanceolate, acute at the apex; adult plants with stems not glaucous; internodes 0.4–1.5 cm diam., 1–20 cm long, usually densely covered with brownish projections. Leaves with petioles 11–33 cm long, usually sheathed 1/2–4/5 or more of their length, obtusely I-ribbed adaxially; blades trisect to almost 5-lobed, mostly 16–33 cm long, often drying yellowish green; lateral leaflets free or confluent, usually conspicuously auriculate and usually nearly pinched-off to form a small lobe, auricle directed at right angles to axis of lateral leaflets; median leaflet 14–20 cm long, ovate to elliptic, acuminate at apex, acute to cuneate at base; primary lateral veins 3–8 per side, sunken above, raised beneath; collective veins 2 or 3; tertiary veins all clearly visible.³
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences usually 6–8 per axil; peduncle not glaucous, 3.5–11.0 cm long and erect at anthesis, 7–14 cm long and pendent in fruit; spathe orange, 4–5 cm long, 3.0–3.5 cm diam., tube ovoid to ellipsoid, usually not glaucous, 2–3 cm long, green inside and out; spathe blade greenish white to cream, 4.0–5.5 cm long; spadix 5–7 cm long; pistillate portion of spadix 1–2 cm long; staminate portion of spadix 4–6 cm long, flower similar to those of Syngonium podophyllum. Infructescences whitish to yellow. Flowering inflorescences January (June–December). Immature fruits are found more or less throughout the year.³
ECOLOGY:
Syngonium peliocladum is known from Costa Rica and western Panama, principally on the Atlantic slope from sea level to ca. 1000 m. In Costa Rica it occurs in the Cordillera Central ranging from Tortuguero to Talamaca. In Panama, it occurs only in Bocas del Toro Province. It occurs in Tropical wet forest, Premontane wet forest and wetter parts of Tropical moist forest life zones.³ altitude: 0–1000 m
ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek pelios, "livid" or "dark," and klados, "branch," referring to the dark stems. Schott, who described the species in 1860, does not explain the name.²
NOTES:
1. The species is a member of sect. Syngonium and is characterized by its lack of glaucous stems, its moderately short internodes, frequently glaucous petioles which are sheathed 1/2–3/4 their length and the sheath free–ending and acute at apex, pedatisect blades with 7–9 leaflets, mostly free or with the outer ones confluent and the lowermost usually variously auriculate, by 3 or 4 primary lateral veins per side as well by having 4–8 inflorescences per axil, an ovate, green, glaucous spathe tube as well as with often rather massive infructescences often yellow and pruinose. The species has been confused with Syngonium podophyllum and was earlier treated as a variety of that species⁴. The latter is distinquished by having glaucous stems, a smooth epidermis and bright orange to red infructescences.³
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Syngonium peliocladum
2. Prodromus Systematis Aroidearum 202 (1860) — protologue.