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Araceae
Philodendron rodrigueziae Croat & Grayum
SUMMARY
Climbing epiphyte, fertile at 2.5 m, reaching much higher. Internodes 1. 1-6.0 cm long, 0.5-0.8 cm wide, olive-green, glossy, drying pale brown or yellowish brown, semi-glossy to glossy, sulcate and irregularly cracking; roots absent from distal nodes. LEAVES: Petiole (9.3-) 13.2-19.5 cm long, P/L= (0.36-) 0.43-0.66, brown- scarious, the epidermis drying pale brown to yellowish brown and glossy to highly glossy, transversely cracking especially at proximal and distal extremes, extensively sheathed, the sheath erect, the free portion prolonged by ca. 1.0-2.0 mm; unsheathed portion of petiole 0.5-2.0 mm long. Lamina (23.0-) 26.3-35.9 cm long, 11.0-16.9 cm wide, L/W=(1.95-) 2.04-2.43 (-2.74), IQI= (1-) 5-13, velvety-matte or satiny to lustrous above, dull to semiglossy below, slightly bicolored, narrowly to broadly elliptical (broadest near the middle), abruptly short to moderately long-acuminate apically (the acumen ca. 0.6-2.0 cm long), somewhat narrowly to broadly cuneate (often rather abruptly so) basally; midrib and primary lateral veins sunken above, raised below, the primary laterals (17-) 20-25 per side, 0.4-3.0 cm apart, with interprimaries frequent and obvious; minor veins not described; abaxial laminar surface virtually smooth to sparsely or moderately granular, appearing very finely alveolate, with reticulate veins visible only peripherally; white stitching not visible; resin canals not evident to occasionally visible; adaxial surface moderately granular, with reticulate veins visible marginally; white stitching occasional, following resin canals; resin canals occasionally to regularly visible, especially distally. INFLORESCENCES solitary; cataphylls absent; peduncle 2.0-3.0 cm long, P/S=0.18-0.23; spathe at anthesis 12.2-18.2 cm long, 1.7-2.7 cm wide, externally olive-green to dark green below, greenish white above, mottled with raised white or pale dots or lineations, internally greenish; spathe drying densely and evenly granular externally with resin canals sometimes visible especially toward margins, internally moderately and uniformly low-granular, with coarse reticulate venation sometimes present and longitudinal secretory striations in basal 1/2-3/5+; acumen of spathe 0.5-1.2+ cm long. Stipe of spadix 0.5-0.9 cm long; spadix 10.7- 16.2 cm long, the fertile male portion 0.9-1.1 cm wide, cream-colored, persistent to fruiting stage; sterile male zone ca. 1.5 cm long; fertile female portion of spadix 3.0-5.0 cm long (to 8.4+ cm in fruit), F/S=0.27-0.32, 0.85-1.15 cm wide (to 2.5+ cm in fruit); fertile male flowers (1.2-) 1.4-1.7 mm long, 0.5-1.4 mm wide, irregularly polygonal, columnar; sterile male flowers 1.4-1.6 mm long, 0.7-1.3 mm wide, irregularly polygonal, columnar, not well differentiated (but drying darker than fertile male flowers); female flowers 1.3-2.0 mm long, 0.7-1.0 mm wide, the stylar canals 3-5. INFRUCTESCENCES: Ripe fruits whitish. Seeds 0.75-1.00 mm long, 0.20-0.30 mm wide, nearly straight to slightly curved or bent, finely striate with the striae cancellate, drying light to dark brown, glossy.