SYNGONIUM SALVADORENSE
PROTOLOGUE: Syngonium salvadorense , published in Oesterreichische Botanische Zeitschrift 8: 178 (1858). The protologue is reproduced below.
SYNONYMS:
HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS: Syngonium donnell-smithii Engl.
DISTRIBUTION: Mexico (Oaxaca, Chiapas) to NW. Costa Rica: Chiapas, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Oaxaca.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Costa Rica: Guanacaste El Salvador: Ahuachapán, Cabañas, La Libertad, San Salvador, San Vicente, Santa Ana, Sonsonate Guatemala: Escuintla, Guatemala, Jutiapa, Quetzaltenango, San Marcos, Suchitepéquez Mexico: Chiapas, México State, Oaxaca.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Nomadic vine; juvenile plants with stems glaucous; internodes 5–20 cm long, less than 1 cm thick; petioles 12–25 cm long, glaucous, sheathed beyond the middle (sometimes more than 4/5 their length); blades usually hastate, sometimes sagittate, 9–19 cm long, 5.5–11.0 cm wide, anterior lobe equilateral or inequilateral, often constricted at base, posterior lobes inequilateral, usually longer than broad; intermediate blades becoming larger, more conspicuously hastate-lobed, mostly 20–30 cm long, lobes ovate to broadly ovate, directed markedly outward, eventually becoming pinched off. Adult plants with stems glaucous, frequently scandent; internodes 3–14 cm long, 1–2 cm diam., olive-green when young, the periderm tan, thin and cracking. Leaves with petioles slightly paler than stems, 18–42 cm long, sheathed 1/2–4/5 their length, obtusely ribbed above sheath, sheath free-ending and acute at apex; blades trisect to sub-5-sect, lobes usually confluent to almost free, median lobe broadly ovate to ovate-elliptic, 14–28 cm long, 8–18 cm wide, acuminate at apex, rounded at base, lateral lobes ovate, unequal, usually not auriculate, sometimes with hastate auricles, rarely auricles nearly pinching off to form a nearly 5-lobed blade; primary lateral veins 2–5 per side, mostly arising in lower half of blade, slightly sunken on upper surface, raised beneath; tertiary veins clearly visible on the lower surface.⁴
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences 1 or 2 per axil; peduncle 9–18 cm long and more or less erect in flower, 9–25 cm long and pendent in fruit; spathe tube ellipsoid, 4–5 cm long, 3–4 cm diam., green outside, the inside reddish at the base, greenish near apex; spathe blade broadly ovate, 7–10 cm long, 4–5 cm wide, greenish outside, inside white, abruptly cuspidate at apex; pistillate portion of the spadix 1.5–2.5 cm long, 1.0–1.5 cm diam., greenish, flowers with stigmas bilabiate; staminate portion of spadix white, clavate, 5–7 cm long, 1.0–1.5 cm diam., synandrium irregularly 6-sided, flat at apex with no sign of fusion, margins weakly scalloped. lNFRUCTESCENCES red-orange to red, often massive, 9–12 cm long, 6–8 cm diam.; syncarp brown, to 8 cm long and 5 cm diam.; mesocarp sweet, fleshy, white; seeds black, ovoid-ellipsoid, 8–12 mm long, 4–6 mm diam. Flowering inflorescences have been found in February and August. Fruits mature mostly in July and August.⁴
ECOLOGY:
It occurs principally in Tropical moist forest life zones from sea level to 700 m. The species is a conspicuous plant in disturbed areas and often grows in great profusion, to the exclusion of most other epiphytic plant species, on the shade trees in coffee plantations in Guatemala.⁴ altitude: 0–700 m
ETYMOLOGY:
Named for El Salvador: Schott's original description records that Hermann Wendland discovered the plant in the state of San Salvador near Santa Ana. The Latinized ending-ense means "from that place."²
NOTES:
1. Syngonium salvadorense is a member of sect. Syngonium characterized by its glaucous stems, elongate internodes with tan, thin and cracking periderm, petioles sheathed 1/2–4/5 their length, sheath free-ending and acute at apex, trisect to sub-5-sect blades with the lobes usually confluent to almost free, the lateral lobes usually not auriculate, 1 or 2 inflorescences per axil, the spathe tube reddish at the base, greenish near apex and red-orange to red, often massive infructescences. The species is not confused with any other but resembles Syngonium neglectum in having large and often solitary inflorescences. Note that the holotype of this species, once believed to have been lost has been found and is now housed at the herbarium at the University of Göttingen, Germany. A presumably related plant was seen at the Patricia Koons Botanical Garden in Taiwan (KBCC) which perhaps was collected in El Salvador at is seemingly related to Syngonium salvadorense but differs in substantial ways (see Figs. 220–223). This species needs to be confirmed as to origin and studies further before any judgement can be made.⁴
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Syngonium salvadorense
2. Oesterreichische Botanische Zeitschrift 8: 178 (1858) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Syngonium salvadorense
Additional photos from iNaturalist by dennis_medina