SYNGONIUM WENDLANDII
PROTOLOGUE: Syngonium wendlandii , published in Oesterreichische Botanische Zeitschrift 8: 178 (1858). The protologue is reproduced below.
DISTRIBUTION: Costa Rica: Costa Rica.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Costa Rica: Alajuela, Heredia, Puntarenas, San José iNaturalist: Alajuela.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION:
Nomadic vine to 4–5 m; juvenile plants with stems not glaucous; internodes at first short, 2–4 cm long, becoming longer, to 10 cm long; petioles sheathed 1/3–3/4 their length (usually less than 1/2); blades cordate, to 10 cm long, anterior lobe ovate, acuminate, posterior lobes semi-orbicular; intermediate blades sagittate to hastate, posterior lobes triangular, upper surface velvety green, major veins streaked with silvery gray. Adult plants with stems green, not glaucous, becoming brownish, asperous-striate; internodes 1–5 cm long, 0.5–2.5 cm diam. Leaves with petioles 10–37 cm long, sheathed ½ to nearly 90% of their length, free portion above sheath acutely angled medially, lateral margins acute; blades trisect, dark velvety green, sometimes with a streak of silver gray, epidermis of conspicuous papillate cells; median leaflet 8–22 cm long, 2–8 cm wide, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, acuminate at apex, truncate to acute, sagittate or hastate at base; primary lateral veins 6–10 per side; lateral leaflets 7–15 cm long, 3–6 cm wide, oblong-elliptic to narrowly ovate, acute to acuminate at apex, inequilateral, inner margin acute, outer margin rounded to auriculate, auricles sometimes pinched off, oblong-elliptic, to 3 cm long.⁴
INFLORESCENCE:
Inflorescences 1–4 per axil; peduncle (2.5)8–10 cm long, obtusely triangular; spathe 13.0–16.5 cm long; spathe tube 5–6 cm long, 2.0–2.5 cm diam., narrowly ovoid, pale green outside, dark red to dark purplish inside; spathe blade elliptic, 8.0–10.5 cm long, acuminate at apex, pale yellowish green outside, white to cream inside; spadix 7.0–10.5 cm long, weakly sigmoid, curved outward in pistillate and lower part of sterile staminate portions, then turned inward again in upper part of sterile staminate section; pistillate portion of spadix 1.5–2.0 cm long, to 1 cm diam., flowers irregularly 6-sided, stigma orbicular or 2-lobed; staminate portion of spadix white, 5.5–8.5 cm long, more or less cylindroid and markedly tapered onto sterile staminate part of spadix; staminate flowers 2–4-androus (usually 4), synandrium crenate near apex, area of fusion of stamens somewhat visible; sterile staminate flowers irregular, larger than fertile flowers and well-spaced for genus. Infructescences pendent, oblong; syncarp oblong, 2.6–5.8 cm long, 1.4–2.4 cm wide, interior red, berries white to brown (fide Birdsey, 1955); seeds not seen. Flowers MarchMay; Fruits August December-January.⁴
ECOLOGY:
The species is endemic to Costa Rica, occurring from sea level to 1000 m elevation mostly on the Pacfic slope in Alejuela, San José and Puntarenas Provinces but also on the Eastern slope on Cerro Turrubares. It occurs in Premontane moist forest, Premontane wet forest, and Tropical wet forest life zones in the Meseta Central, west of the city of San Jose.⁴ altitude: 0–1000 m
ETYMOLOGY:
Named for Hermann Wendland (1825–1903), the Hanover garden director who collected in Costa Rica and El Salvador in 1856–57. Schott's original description names Wendland as the discoverer and describes the plant from his collection.²
NOTES:
1. Syngonium wendlandii is a member of section Syngonium and can be recognized by its trisect leaves with a densely papillate upper epidermis and by its inflorescence with a frequently sigmoid spadix and widely spaced sterile staminate flowers. The species is most easily confused with Syngonium hoffmannii, a species with similar leaves that occurs at higher elevations (1500–1800 m) on the slopes surrounding the Meseta Central. The latter species is distinguished by the lack of conspicuous papillate leaf epidermis and by having a stouter spadix that is scarcely constricted at the base with the sterile staminate flowers closely compacted. Under magnification, the papillae on the upper surface of the leaf blades of Syngonium wendlandii appear as minute reddish-brown glands (on dried specimens).⁴
2. Recorded as an adventive on the campus of Universitas Indonesia at Depok, West Java, in December 2014, at a single locality and probably from a single introduced plant, flowering and beginning to fruit in the buffer zone of an urban forest of fruit trees; the species had also been reported in cultivation in the Marshall Islands. It is separated from the naturalized Syngonium podophyllum of Java by its deep velvety green blades with a silver band along the midrib.⁵
REFERENCES:
1. Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Syngonium wendlandii
2. Oesterreichische Botanische Zeitschrift 8: 178 (1858) — protologue.
3. iNaturalist: Syngonium wendlandii
Additional photos by David Scherberich
Additional photos from iNaturalist by Asih Desi Sartika, LostInCR, Mary Colton and Ocean Fleskes