SYNGONIUM PODOPHYLLUM 'INFRA-RED'

ORIGIN:

Phytotech Australia Pty Ltd, Edwardstown, South Australia (Nicholas M. Cuthbertson); US Plant Patent PP8,374, 1993

CULTIVAR DESCRIPTION:

A non-vining, densely bushy and compact sport of 'Maya Red' that keeps its copper-orange leaf color where the parent has turned green by the time it is ready for sale.¹ It was the shortest plant in the 1993 Florida trial at about 9 cm, with few shoots and fine leaves recorded as red with red veins,² and in 2004 it was listed with young solid pink leaves that mature to solid green.³

NOTES:

1. Found in 1986 as a spontaneous mutation among several hundred micropropagated 'Maya Red' plants at Phytotech Australia, Edwardstown, South Australia, and maintained since by repeated cycles of tissue culture; US Plant Patent PP8,374 was granted to Nicholas M. Cuthbertson on 14 September 1993. It was offered in the United States by Twyford Laboratories.¹,⁴

2. Unconfirmed: Hatch finds it slow, its leaves more pink than orange with thin green margins.⁴

REFERENCES:

1. Cuthbertson, N.M. 1993. Syngonium plant named Infra-Red. US Plant Patent PP8,374

2. Henley, R.W. & Robinson, C.A. 1993. Nephthytis cultivars to know and grow. Proceedings of the Florida State Horticultural Society 106: 343–347

3. Chen, J., McConnell, D.B. & Everitt, K.C. 2005. Cultural guidelines for commercial production of interiorscape Syngonium. University of Florida IFAS Extension ENH 993 / EP244

4. Hatch, L.C. 2024. Houseplant Cultivars, Volume I, 2nd edition, Syngonium section (after the Report of the Syngonium Working Group, 2nd edition, 2023). Cultivar.org, Cary, North Carolina

Plates from US Plant Patent PP8,374