Philodendron squamiferum Poepp.

Stems long, sub-woody, robust, fissures in cortex, scandent, rooting high up in trees, hidden by deflexed palmatifid irregularly twisted chestnut-colored scales, 7-9 mm long, up to 2 mm wide at the base. LEAVES: Petiole terete, reddish, 10-15 cm long, 3-4 mm thick, clothed in dense small, spreading, entire or palmatifid, 4-5 mm long scales. Blade parchment-like, five-lobed or five-partite, up to 25 cm long, the lowermost lobes diverging irregularly, obliquely, oval, rather acute or short obtuse, often with one [side] or the other enlarged with lobules or teeth; the middle lobes longer than the lower ones, ca. 10 cm long, 4 cm wide, sub-falcate-oblong, sub-acute; terminal lobe rhomboid-elliptic, apex very broadly acuminate, 10 cm long and equally wide. Midrib and posterior ribs sparsely scaly (posterior ribs denuded in the deep, narrowly parabolic petiolar sinus); 4 sub-parallel lateral veins spreading in the middle lobe, 4 lateral veins spreading on each side of the anterior lobe, with a larger distance between them. INFLORESCENCE: Peduncle elongate, red, scaly. Spathe 7-9 cm long, tube purple on both sides, 4-5 cm long, blade somewhat shorter, from white to yellow-green and reddish-purple dorsally towards the apex, internally pale yellow, cucullate, apex shortly cuspidulate. Spadix obliquely sessile; female zone pale green, cylindroid, 3-3.5 cm long; male sterile zone swollen, 1.5 cm long; fertile male zone white, clavate-cylindric, 2 cm long. Pistils oblong-ovoid, 1 mm long. INFRUCTESCENCE: Berries pale pink, barely 2 mm long, 6-9-locular, locules 2-3-seeded. Seeds pink-purplish, oblong-ellipsoid, sulcate-striate.