Philodendron dodsonii Croat & Grayum

Hemiepiphytic; stem appressed-climbing, leaf scars conspicuous, 1--2.7 cm long, 1.5--3.5 cm wide; internodes short on adults, stout, matte to glaucous, 2.5--3 cm diam., frequently longer than broad on nonflowering plants, gray-green, becoming whitish to grayish with age, epidermis flaking; cataphylls thin, spongy, to 20--33 cm long, weakly to sharply 2-ribbed, sometimes unribbed, light green, dark green-striate, persisting in parchment-like mats, eventually fibrous, rarely deciduous intact, margins clear; LEAVES: petioles 52-93 cm long, 9--25 mm diam., subterete to obtusely flattened abaxially, soft, drying black, surface pale, dull whitish-streaked, thinly dark green-striate, drying black; blades ovate, subcoriaceous, semiglossy, slightly bicolorous, very short acuminate to more or less acute at apex, weakly cordate to sagittate at base, 36--87 cm long, 28--66 cm wide (1.3--1.6 times longer than wide), (0.7--1.2 times longer than petiole), about equal in length to petiole, upper surface dark green, drying dark brown to dark yellow-brown, lower surface moderately paler and glossy, drying yellow-brown and matte to weakly glossy, margins weakly undulate and upturned, hyaline; anterior lobe 31--76 cm long, 39--70 cm wide, (1.65--2.9(4) times longer than posterior lobes); posterior lobes 11--29 cm long, 9-31 cm wide, broadly rounded to broadly obtuse; midrib flat to sunken, slightly paler than surface above, convex, concolorous below; basal veins 7--8 per side, and with the first free to base, numbers 3--7 coalesced 4--12 cm; posterior rib prominently naked to 6 cm along the sinus; primary lateral veins (4)7--8 per side, departing midrib at a 50--60º angle, to the margins, sunken and paler than surface above, convex to round-raised, usually darker than surface, sometimes paler than surface near base below; interprimary veins sunken and concolorous above, raised and concolorous below; tertiary veins visible, slightly darker than surface below; minor veins darker than surface, drying smooth below, arising from both the midrib and primary lateral veins. INFLORESCENCES 2--5 per axil; peduncles 5--9.5(14) cm long, 6--10 mm diam., subterete, pale green, white-streaked; spathe 16--18 cm long ((1)1.8--3.5 times longer than peduncle), moderately constricted above the tube; spathe blade white outside, reddish inside; spathe tube red-purple to dark reddish (B & K red-purple 3/7.5) outside, red-purple to dark reddish inside, sap Mango-scented; spadix 13--15(18) cm long; pistillate portion 6 cm long in front, 5 cm long in back, 2.5 cm diam. at middle, 2.2 cm wide at base; staminate portion 11 cm long; fertile staminate portion ca. 1 cm diam.; sterile staminate portion 2.5--3 cm diam.; pistils 4 mm long,1.7--2.3 mm diam.; ovary (4)5-locular, with axile placentation; ovules ca. 20 per locule, 2-seriate, 0.3--0.4 mm long, slightly longer than funicle; funicle 0.2--0.4 mm long, adnate to lower part of partition, style similar to style type B; central style dome fairly well developed; style apex broadly domed; stigma inserted on entire style apex; the androeceium truncate, more or less prismatic, oblong, margins irregularly 4--5-sided, 1--2.5 mm long; thecae oblong, 0.3 mm wide, contiguous, more or less parallel to one another; sterile staminate flowers clavate, irregularly 3--5-sided, 2.3--3.7 mm wide.