Philodendron ferrugineum Croat

Hemiepiphytic; stem appressed-climbing, pale to dark green, soon brown, to 1 m long, leaf scars conspicuous, 2.5--3 cm long, 2--5 cm wide; internodes semiglossy, short on adult plants, 3--5 cm diam., sometimes longer than broad, pale to dark green, becoming gray, finally brown, somewhat scurfy, sometimes transversly fissured; roots dark brown, to ca. 30 cm long, 1--2 cm diam., drying reddish brown; cataphylls (15)26--48 cm long, unribbed, except bluntly or sharply 2-ribbed near apex, green, blotched with purple-violet, to paler green or whitish to densely dark green speckled, maroon spotted or tinged, sulcate between ribs, drying reddish brown, deciduous, persisting weakly at upper nodes, rounded at apex margins clear to hyaline. LEAVES spreading-pendent, scattered evenly along stem, clustered at or near stem apex; petioles 41--67 cm long, 1--1.3 cm diam., (about as long as the blade), erect-spreading, terete or subterete, dark green, firm, weakly and obscurely sulcate adaxially, often obtusely flattened and obtusely ribbed toward apex, to bluntly and broadly sulcate near base adaxially, surface weakly glossy to matte, weakly and densely light green-lineate or striate, purplish red ring around apex; sheathing to 6 cm long; geniculum thicker than petiole, 2.5--3.5 cm long slightly paler than petiole; blades pendent, narrowly ovate, moderately coriaceous, bicolorous, gradually to strongly acuminate at apex (the acumen tightly inrolled), cordate at base, (38)56--85(102) cm long, 17--56(62) cm wide (1.3--2.3 times longer than wide), (0.8--1.3 times longer than petiole), about equal in length to petiole, broadest somewhat above point of petiole attachment, or at lower one-third margins hyaline, weakly to strongly undulate; upper surface dark to medium green, drying coriaceous, reddish brown, semiglossy to glossy, weakly arched along midrib; lower surface very weakly glossy to matte, much paler, drying with minute uninterrupted ridges; anterior lobe 42--70 cm long, 9--22.2 cm wide, ((7.5)12--27 times longer than posterior lobes), margins broadly convex; posterior lobes 14--27 cm long, directed downward or inward, sometimes overlapping, obtuse to rounded; sinus strongly spathulate to hippocrepiform; midrib flat to weakly convex, paler than surface above, convex to narrowly rounded, lineate, sometimes maroon spotted, dark green, paler than surface, drying dark yellowish brown below; basal veins 2--3--5 per side, with 1(2) free to base, 2--5 coalesced 2--4.5 cm, convex and paler than surface above, bluntly acute to convex below; posterior rib not naked, straight to weakly curved; primary lateral veins 5--8 per side, departing midrib at a 45--70º angle, more or less straight, slightly curved toward apex pale green to whitish, usually obtusely sunken, sometimes to weakly and bluntly raised above, convex and darker than surface below; interprimary veins weakly visible to inconspicuous above and below; secondary veins drying inconspicuous; minor veins moderately obsure, close and apparently intermittant, giving veins a bumpy look, arising from both the midrib and primary lateral veins. INFLORESCENCES semi-erect to erect, 4--6 per axil lower; peduncle 2.5--11 cm long, 1--2 cm diam., whitish at base; spathe coriaceous, 16--23 cm long (1.6--4.2 times longer than peduncle), slightly constricted above the tube, acuminate (the acumen inrolled), dark green outside; spathe blade with lateral margins rolled back, sometimes pale green outside, whitish inside; spathe tube green, heavily spotted with purple-violet outside, 6--8(12) cm long, purple-violet to light maroon, at least the lower 3/5, otherwise greenish white inside; spadix sessile; clavate, weakly protruding forward at anthesis, 12--20 cm long, broadest above the middle, constricted weakly above sterile staminate portion; pistillate portion pale green to yellow, cylindrical or tapered toward the apex to narrowly ellipsoid, 3.7--6.5(8) cm long, 1.3--1.5 cm diam. at apex, 1.6 cm diam. at middle, 1.1--1.8 cm wide at base; staminate portion 8.6--16 cm long; fertile staminate portion white to yellowish, more or less ellipsoid to clavate, 1.1--1.5 cm diam. at base, 1.3--1.9 cm diam. at middle, 1.1--1.5 cm diam. ca. 1 cm from apex, broadest at the middle or at the base, broader than the pistillate portion, broader than the sterile portion; sterile staminate portion narrower than the pistillate portion, white, 1.5 cm diam.; pistils 2--3.4 mm long, (0.7--0.8)1.6--2 mm diam.; ovary 8--10-locular, 1.6 mm diam., with sub-basal (axile) placentation; ovules 4--7 per locule, 1-seriate, 0.4--0.5 mm long, longer than (or equal in length to) funicle; funicle adnate to lower part of axile wall; style 1.1--1.6 mm diam., similar to style type D; style apex flat, with raised annulus; style boss broad; stigma button-like with medial depression, 1.3 mm diam., 0.2--0.5 mm high, covering entire style apex except (including annulus) in center, medially and shallowly depressed; the androecium truncate, margins 4--6-sided, irregularly scalloped or lobed on at least one margin; thecae oblong, 0.4--0.5 mm wide, contiguous; sterile staminate flowers rounded or blunt, 2.2--2.5(4) mm long, (1.9)2.2--3.2 mm wide, 2.2--2.5(4) mm long. INFRUCTESCENCE erect to semi-erect; berries turning orange, obovoid-ellipsoid, apex blunt, 0.8--1.2 mm long, 0.5 mm diam.; mesocarp pale yellow to orange; seeds 3--7 per locule, pale and striate or brown and smooth, strongly sulcate, 1--1.5 mm long, 0.5--0.6 mm diam., enclosed in a translucent envelope. JUVENILE blades narrowly ovate, rounded at base, gradually acuminate at apex, more or less shorter than petiole.