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Araceae
Philodendron wendlandii Schott
SUMMARY
Epiphytic, sometimes occurring high in the canopy, rarely terrestrial, perhaps by accident; stem short, scurfy, leaf scars inconspicuous, 1.3--2.1 cm long, 2--2.5 cm wide, obscured by root mass; internodes short, 0.5--3 cm long, 1.8--3.5 cm diam., glaucous, epidermis fissured transversely; roots reddish green becoming dark brown, blunt, branched near tip; cataphylls somewhat spongy or fleshy, 29--36 cm long, unribbed or sometimes sharply 2-ribbed, green to reddish green, persisting semi-intact at upper nodes, eventually fibrous. LEAVES rosulate; petioles 9--30 cm long, 1.5--4 cm diam., broader than thick, spongy, soft, sharply flattened adaxially, sharply convex abaxially, with adaxial margins erect on younger petioles, with dark green ring at apex; blades oblong-oblanceolate, coriaceous, slightly bicolorous, semiglossy, acuminate, sometimes long-acuminate at apex (the acumen inrolled, 2--4 mm long), more or less narrowly rounded to obtuse at base, 32--67 cm long, 8.5--22 cm wide (2.6--4.7 times longer than wide), ((1.7)2.6--4.2(5.2) times longer than petiole), broadest more or less near the middle; midrib flat to convex, broadly convex near base, convex toward apex, concolorous above, round-raised to convex, slightly paler than surface below; basal veins lacking; primary lateral veins 7--12(16) per side, departing midrib at a (50)60-70º angle, more or less straight to the margins, weakly impressed to sunken above, convex to weakly raised, darker than surface below; minor veins obsure above, visible, darker than surface below, arising from midrib and paralleling primary lateral veins. INFLORESCENCES erect, 2 per axil; peduncle 3--10 cm long, 1--1.5 cm diam., pale green; spathe erect to erect-spreading, coriaceous, 12--18 cm long, ((1.5)3.4--3.6(5.3) times longer than peduncle), constricted just above the tube to 2.1 cm diam. at constriction; spathe blade oblong-ovate, pale green to white, sometimes tinged pink, sometimes white striate outside, 7--13 cm long, 2.6--7 cm diam. when open, (opening broadly elliptic in face view, white (rarely rose-red), pale-spotted with dark green central rib inside; spathe tube ellipsoid, pale to medium green, sometimes tinged with red, white-short-lineate in back outside, (3.5)5.5--7 cm long, 2.6--3.5 cm diam., pale green to white (sometimes creamy yellow or reddish with darker green central rib), minutely pale spotted inside; spadix stipitate to 1.3 mm long, light green; cylindrical, bluntly pointed at apex, (8.5)11--14.4(17.2) cm long, of nearly uniform width; pistillate portion pale green to yellowish green, cylindrical, or weakly tapered toward apex, 2.9--4.6(6.7) cm long, 1--1.2 cm diam. at apex, 1.1--1.4 cm diam. at middle, 1--1.5 cm wide at base; staminate portion 8.2--11.7 cm long; fertile staminate portion creamy white, with resin droplets, 9--13 mm diam. at base, 9--12 mm diam. at middle, 6--7(9) mm diam. ca. 1 cm from apex, broadest at the base or equally broad at base and middle, as broad as the pistillate portion, as broad as to slightly narrower than the sterile portion; sterile staminate portion slightly broader than the pistillate portion, white, 1--1.3 cm diam.; pistils 1.7--2.3 mm long, 1.4--1.7 mm diam.; ovary 6--7-locular, 0.7--1.3 mm long, 1.4--1.7 mm diam., with sub-basal placentation; locules 0.7--1.3 mm long, (0.2)0.4--0.5 mm diam.; ovule sac (0.7)1--1.1 mm long; ovules 2 per locule, translucent and contained within translucent or transparent ovule sac, 0.3--0.5 mm long, longer than funicle; funicle 0.2--0.4 mm long, (can be pulled free to base), style 0.6--0.8 mm long, 1.2--1.8 mm diam., similar to style type B; style apex sloping to weakly rounded, with depressions surrounding stylar canal exits; stigma subdiscoid, truncate, 0.7--1.1 mm diam., 0.2--0.3 mm high, covering center of style apex; the androecium truncate, prismatic, margins irregularly 3--6-sided, 1.2 mm long, 0.7--1.4 mm diam. at apex; thecae more or less ovate, 0.5 mm wide, more or less parallel to one another, sometimes nearly contiguous, sometimes distinctly contiguous; sterile staminate flowers blunt, irregularly 4--6-sided, sometimes clavate or prismatic, 1.4--1.6 mm long, 1.1--2(3.6) mm wide. INFRUCTESCENCE: Berries bright orange.