Pothos tener (Araceae)
Very robust and vigorous, sometimes smothering, moderately ramified homeophyllous root-climbing liane reaching into the crowns of canopy trees. Shootsystem rather poorly differentiated into adherent and flowering branches; stem of mature sterile shoot to 2 cm diam., internodes up to 35 cm long, terete in cross-section; stem of juvenile shoot to 4 mm diam., terete in cross-section with the leaves slightly congested to scattered, the petioles weakly ascending, and the blades pendulous; eocaul foraging and climbing, often very long. LEAVES rich green, glossy above, stiffly chartaceous, drying pale grey-yellowish green; petiole 9–16.5 × 0.3–1.2 cm, stout, sheath prominent, reaching to the base of apical geniculum; blade 15–50 × 5–19 cm, pendulous, elliptic to ovate-oblong, tip somewhat acuminate to obtuse, ultimately with a flexuous filiform mucro, base acute; primary lateral venation diverging at c. 60–80°, crossed by usually three intramarginal veins on each side of the midrib, these arising from near the base of the midrib and running more or less to the leaf tip. INFLORESCENCE solitary at the end of leafy, pendulous shoots; peduncle 10–20 × 0.2–0.5 cm, about equaling the petiole of the subtending leaf, most of it within the sheath at flowering, but extending up to twice original length in fruiting specimens. Spathe 11–27 × 1–5 cm, somewhat exceeding the spadix, narrowly lanceolate, distally somewhat twisted, membranous, green. Spadix conspicuously stipitate; stipe 2–4 × 0.15–0.25 cm; fertile portion 10–22 × 0.35–0.8 cm, long-cylindrical, brownish green at flowering. Flowers c. 2.5 mm diam. with (4)–6 free to fused tepals and (4)–6 stamens. INFRUCTESCENCE considerably elongated, to 40 cm long, pendulous, often twisted, with very many berries; fruit to c. 2.5 × 1.5 cm, ovoid, scarlet when ripe; seeds c. 3 × 6 mm ellipsoid.
Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. In Malesia: Sulawesi, Maluku, New Guinea. One of us (A.H.) observed this species in Vanuatu in 1989, but we are notaware of any herbarium material. Although very widespread and common east of Wallacea, this species is not found in Australia. In the Philippines it is replaced by P. dolichophyllus and P. ovatifolius, and in Borneo and further west by P. ovatifolius.
In a wide range of situations, most commonly in lowland rainforest and regrowth but also found in upper hill forest and in sago palm swamp, and on limestone. In New Guinea it is very common in the lowlands, especially in disturbed forests, often almost completely covering trees and hanging to the ground.