SYNGONIUM SCHOTTIANUM
PROTOLOGUE: Syngonium schottianum , published in Prodromus Systematis Aroidearum 200 (1860). The protologue is reproduced below.
SYNONYMS:
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS: Porphyrospatha schottiana (H.Wendl. ex Schott) Engl.
DISTRIBUTION: C. America: Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Costa Rica: Alajuela, Cartago, Guanacaste, Heredia, Limón, Puntarenas Nicaragua: Matagalpa, North Caribbean Coast, Río San Juan, South Caribbean Coast Panama: Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí, Coclé, Colón (Panama), Darién, Panamá Province, Veraguas iNaturalist: Alajuela, Heredia, Limón.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Nomadic vine, to 6–10 m; juvenile plants with scandent stems; internodes 10–20 cm or more, to ca. 1 cm diam., petioles sheathed beyond middle, often to near apex; blades ovate, becoming ovate-elliptic, with small lobes at base, lobes rounded or angulate; venation conspicuous, primary lateral veins sunken above, tertiary veins clearly visible beneath. Adult plants appressed-climbing; stems to ca. 1 m long, ca. 4 cm wide; internodes very short. Leaves with petioles 47–117 cm long, prominently sheathed 70–90% of their length, mostly to the distal 5–13 cm, subterete above sheath, weakly flattened near blade attachment; sheath firm, to 3 cm high near base, tapering to 1 cm at apex, with one margin shorter, apex free, round, boat-shaped; blades simple, mostly prominently lobed at base, 40–100 cm long, 19–48 cm wide, matte on both surfaces, medium green above, much paler and whitish beneath; posterior lobes directed slightly upwards and sometimes closing sinus, sometimes slightly unequal; sinus 6–14 cm deep, usually narrow, sometimes as broad as deep; basal portions of major lateral veins sunken, collective veins weakly visible, all other veins obscure on upper surface; lower surface with basal portions of major lateral veins raised, arcuate-ascending and loop-connected with major laterals forming weak collecting veins, innermost arising from middle or lower 1/3 of blade, successive collective veins closely paralleling first but becoming closer and more obscure toward margin, spaced at intervals of 0.5–3.0 mm, each arising from lower primary lateral veins and basal veins; primary lateral veins 9–17 per side; basal veins 2–4, coalescing up to 1–4 cm from petiole, basal rib naked 1–6 cm.⁴
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences 4 per axil, each subtended by a prophyll ca. 25 cm long, 4 cm wide, conspicuously 2–ribbed on outside surface, ribs thin, ca. 4 mm high; peduncle 15–25 cm long, obtusely 3-sided; spathe tube green or green tinged with purple mostly in longitudinal streaks, pale violet-purple inside, ca. 9–10 cm long at anthesis (to 17 cm long and 7.5 cm diam. in fruit); spathe blade whitish, ca. 10 cm long, constricted at base and articulating along an elevated ring which forms 4–5 cm above apex of pistillate part of spadix; spadix 10–20 cm long; staminate portion of spadix 19 cm long, 3 cm diam., white; pistillate portion of spadix pale orange, 3.5 cm long on open side, to 2.5 cm long on back side, stigmas bright yellow, irregularly rounded, 3.5 mm diam., ca. 1 mm high, with an irregular, often slit-like depression in center. Infructescences usually green, heavily tinged with purple, 14–16 cm long, 5–6 cm wide; syncarp 7.5–10.0 cm long on open side, 6–7 cm long on back side, 3.0–5.5 cm diam., surface pale brown; stigmas raised, ca. 2.8 mm wide, central core ca. 1 cm diam.; berries white; seeds irregularly oblong, white, ca. 7 mm long. Flowering inflorescences have been found from January through August. Mature fruits are known from August-September (March).⁴
ECOLOGY:
The species has been collected in Costa Rica only on the Atlantic slope in Alajuela, Cartago, Guanacaste, Heredia, and Limón Provinces. It is restricted to the Atlantic slope except at middle elevations along the Continental Divide in central Panama. It ranges from near sea level to about 900 m in wetter parts of Tropical moist forest, Premontane wet forest, and Tropical wet forest life zones.⁴ altitude: 0–900 m
ETYMOLOGY:
Named for Heinrich Wilhelm Schott (1794–1865), director of the imperial gardens at Schönbrunn and the founder of the genus Syngonium. The name was proposed by Hermann Wendland and published by Schott himself in his Prodromus of 1860.⁴
NOTES:
1. The species is a member of sect. Cordata and is characterized by its very short internodes, long petioles prominently sheathed most of their length with the free part subterete and the sheath free-ending, round and boat-shaped, the blades prominently lobed at base, matte on both surfaces, medium green above, much paler and whitish beneath, with the sinus usually narrow, the basal veins 4 or 5 per side, the posterior rib naked 1–6 cm as well as by having up to 4 moderately long-pedunculate inflorescences per axil, the spathe tube green or green tinged with purple mostly in longitudinal streaks outside and pale violet-purple inside and a pale orange pistillate spadix and white berries. The species is closest to Syngonium crassifolium from Colombia and Ecuador, but it differs from that species by its pale lower blade surface and its generally larger inflorescences. Syngonium sagittatum is also similar to Syngonium schottianum but that Mexican species differs principally in having a thinner blade which dries green rather than typically whitish as in Syngonium schottianum.⁴
2. Thermogenesis was measured in a Montreal greenhouse on five inflorescences of a single plant. The cycle is three days and protogynous: the spathe opens on day one with the stigmas already moist and receptive but no heat; on the evening of day two the staminate and sterile zones peak at 36.2 ± 0.8 °C (16.2 ± 0.7 °C above the air, at about 19:22) while a spicy odor is emitted all day; on day three the spathe folds around the spadix and the pistillate flowers are sealed off one to two hours before pollen is shed, with a second peak of 32.4 ± 3.0 °C (12.2 ± 3.0 °C above the air). Between the peaks the spadix stays 5.7 ± 1.5 °C above ambient, and the pistillate zone never peaks at all.⁵
3. No pollinator has been observed. The scarab Erioscelis columbica has been reported as a visitor at La Selva only second-hand, from an unpublished source, and the authors of the thermogenesis study hedged the report themselves; the two-peak evening cycle is consistent with a night-flying beetle and nothing more.⁵
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Syngonium schottianum
2. Prodromus Systematis Aroidearum 200 (1860) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Syngonium schottianum
Additional photo by David Scherberich
Additional photos from iNaturalist by njweess, Original madness, Johannes Klein, Finca Dinámica, Dirk Mezger, Trevor Van Loon, Alexander Harman, Ph. D., Hans Holbrook, ecarlsonn, Francois Chayer, Fraser Watson, Lena Struwe, Linden Hickson, Manuel Raab, Oliver Ingold, Daniel Garrigues, Ethan Beaver and Letizia Weichgrebe