You are here
Araceae
Philodendron squamipetiolatum Croat
SUMMARY
Appressed-climbing hemiepiphyte, occurring on understory trees in primary forest, fertile ca. 6 cm above the ground; stems trailing when juvenile, loosely appressed-climbing as adults; internodes 3 - 17 urn lung, 6 -15 mm diam., dark green, soon dark brown, drying yellow-brown, closely ridged-fissured with the surface moderately glossy, granular and with close, scalariform, tufted transversely oriented scales; cataphylls to 29 cm long, terete, unribbed, green and densely whitish scaly, promptly weathering to a loose semiorganized network of slender, pale fibers with fragments of epidermis, the fibers persisting at upper nodes, but soon completely deciduous. LEAVES: petioles erect to spreading, 6-16 cm long, to ca. 6 mm diam., terete, matte, dark green, surface densely covered with antrorse light green scales throughout (these ca. 6 mm long), densely granular-scurfy; blades somewhat pendent when young, spreading with petioles when mature, ovate, subcoriaceous, acuminate at apex, rounded to sub-cordate at base, 15 - 37.5 cm long, 9.5 - 29 cm wide (ca. 1.2 - 2.1 times longer than wide), (1.6 - 2.3 times longer than petiole), upper surface dark green, weakly glossy (subvelvety), drying dark brown, lower surface matte and much paler, drying yellow-brown; posterior lobes broadly rounded; sinus arcuate; midrib narrowly sunken and paler above, round-raised to thicker than broad, darker and densely puberulent below; basal veins 2 - 6(9) per side, with all free to base, or sometimes 3 - 5 pairs coalesced up to 1.5 cm, posterior rib sometimes lacking; primary lateral veins 5 - 7 per side, departing midrib at a 50 - 55º angle, weakly quilt-sunken above, round-raised to thicker than broad, darker and densely puberulent below; minor veins flat but distinct and darker than surface below, some intermittent; "cross-veins" distinct, moderately raised on drying. INFLORESCENCES 1-2 per axil; peduncle subterete, 6 - 8 cm long, densely scaly; spathe 11 - 15.5 cm long, 2 - 2.5 cm diam. when furled, to 6.5 cm wide, and constricted somewhat when flattened, green outside, especially below, densely scaly (the scales whitish), deep reddish inside, especially in the tube; spadix yellowish white, 9.7 - 13.5 cm long, to 1.3 cm diam., only weakly constricted midway; pistillate portion 2.7- 4.7 cm long in the front, 0.7÷1.4 cm diam.; staminate portion 7÷8.8 cm long; fertile staminate portion broadest at upper one-third and bluntly pointed at apex, 6 mm diam. 1 cm from apex; sterile staminate portion 1.2 cm diam.; pistils 2.2 mm long; ovary 5-6-locular, ca. 1.4 mm long, with axile placentation, the sides covered throughout, especially toward apex, with short pale raphide cells; locules 1 - 1.2 mm long; ovules 20 - 30 per locule, 0.1 - 0.2 mm long, oblong, arranged all along the length of the locules; style similar to style type B; short, 0.9 - 1 mm diam., drying with 2 - 5 depressions at apex; stigma 1 - 1.1 mm diam. when flattened and dried. INFRUCTESCENCE not seen.