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Araceae
Philodendron canicaule Croat & D.C.Bay
SUMMARY
Hemiepiphytic or rarely terrestrial; stem appressed-climbing or scandent; sap pale orange to orange-brown; internodes long, weakly glossy, 1.5–25 x 1– 4 cm, longer than broad, gray-green to green or light brown; epidermis scurfy, conspicuously transverse-fissured, drying yellowish tan and flaking; roots to 3 mm diam., few per node, drying dark reddish brown with loose epidermis; cataphylls 12–28 cm, unribbed, 1-ribbed, or sharply 2-ribbed, rounded and apiculate at apex, green or yellow-green, drying dark rusty brown, deciduous. LEAVES spreading; petioles 21– 46 cm x 4–8 mm (dry), terete, sulcate toward base, slightly flattened and sometimes sulcate toward apex, medium green, matte, weakly striate, drying golden-tan, often longitudinally wrinkled; blades ovate, coriaceous to moderately coriaceous, short-acuminate at apex, deeply cordate at base, 26.5–56 x 16– 32(–39) cm, 1.2–1.7x longer than wide, 0.8– 1.3(–1.6)x as long as petiole, broadest near the middle, adaxial surface semi-glossy, dark green, drying glossy and olive-green to medium olive-tan, abaxial surface matte to weakly glossy, paler, drying slightly less glossy and barely paler than adaxially; anterior lobe 20–42 x 16–32(–39) cm, 1.9–3.1x longer than posterior lobe; posterior lobes 8.5–16 x 7.5–15 cm, usually rounded, sometimes slightly rectangular at apex; sinus parabolic to spatulate, 5– 13 cm deep; midrib flat and paler adaxially, round-raised and paler abaxially; primary lateral veins 4 to 7 per side, 2–5 cm apart, departing midrib at 50º–60º, down-turned at midrib then fairly straight but curving upward to within 1.5 cm of the margin; basal veins 4 to 7 pairs per side, 4 coalesced 1–3 cm, 2 coalesced up to 7 cm, posterior rib not naked or naked up to 3 cm, 1 vein free to base; interprimary veins obvious but less prominent than primary lateral veins; secondary veins distinct, fine, parallel to primary lateral veins. INFLORESCENCE small, erect, 1 to 3 per axil; peduncle 5–12 cm 3 2–3 mm (dry), much shorter than petiole, pale to medium green sometimes tinged red, drying light reddish brown; spathe 5–7.5 cm, barely constricted, drying rusty reddish brown; spathe blade 3.5–4.5 cm, greenish white to yellowish cream outside, creamy yellow inside; spathe tube 2–3.5 cm, green outside, rosy red to maroon inside; spadix cylindrical, weakly exserted from the spathe, barely constricted near base of fertile staminate portion, 5.3–5.8 cm; pistillate portion pale green becoming white, 2–2.5 cm 3 3–4 mm (dry); staminate portion creamy white, 3.2– 3.7 cm 3 3–5 mm (dry); sterile staminate portion ca. 1 cm, ca. 5 mm diam. (dry); pistils ca. 0.8 x 0.8 mm; ovary 4-locular, ovules with basal placentation, 1 per locule. INFRUCTESCENCE not seen.