You are here
Araceae
Philodendron rudgeanum Schott
SUMMARY
High climbing, epiphytic vines to at least 5 m on tree trunks, the branches pendent with the fertile apices erect. Internodes 0.3-10.1 (-15.0) cm long, 0.25-0.60 cm wide, dark green to gray-brown, slightly glaucous, drying mid- to dark brown, sharply sulcate or angled; roots occasionally present at distal nodes, to ca. 1.5 mm in diameter. LEAVES: Petiole 2.9-8.2 cm long, P/L=0.20-0.39 (-0.44), glossy adaxially, extensively sheathed, the sheath spreading, scarious-margined, the free portion prolonged by 0.5-2.0 mm; unsheathed portion of petiole obsolete to ca. 0.25 cm long. Lamina (13.9-) 14.3-22.2 (-24.5) cm long, (3.3-) 4.2-7.6 (-8.2) cm wide, L/W=(2.73-) 2.93-3.97 (-4.34+), IQI=(0-) 1-6 (-8), firmly membranous to thinly coriaceous, semiglossy to glossy above, matte to weakly glossy below, weakly to moderately bicolored, narrowly oblong or elliptical to oblanceolate (broadest near or above the middle), abruptly cuspidate or moderately to long-acuminate apically (the acumen ca. 0.9-1.8 cm long), narrowly to broadly cuneate basally and weakly decurrent onto the distal portion of the petiole; midrib narrowly sulcate above, convex below; primary lateral veins 7-11 (-13) per side, 0.2-2.6 cm apart, weakly sunken above, convex below; minor veins distinctly visible below; abaxial laminar surface drying ± uniformly low-granular and subalveolate, with reticulate veins visible peripherally; white stitching absent, or scattered along the resin canals; resin canals not or (rarely) obscurely visible; adaxial surface granular mainly along the veins (or, rarely, more uniformly granular), with reticulate veins visible peripherally; white stitching not evident; resin canals not evident or obscurely to distinctly visible. INFLORESCENCES solitary; cataphylls absent; peduncle (1.6-) 2.2-2.6 (-4.0) cm long, P/S=ca. 0.28-0.31; spathe at anthesis 7.8-9.2 (-11.4) cm long, 1.3-1.7 (-2.1) cm wide, externally light green, internally very pale greenish to whitish; spathe drying uniformly and ± densely granular with conspicuous resin canals (at least proximally) externally, internally moderately to densely granular, with longitudinal secretory striations in basal 3/4-5/6; acumen of spathe 0.7-1.3 cm long. Stipe of spadix 0.4-0.7 cm long; spadix ca. 5.8-8.3 cm long, the fertile male portion (0.5-) 0.7-1.0 cm wide, cream-white, persistent and exserted by up to 3.5 cm in fruit; sterile male zone ca. 0.55 cm long; fertile female portion of spadix 1.6-2.8 cm long (to 7.0+ cm in fruit), F/S=0.28-0.34, 0.6-0.9 cm wide (to 2.0+ cm in fruit), pale green; fertile male flowers 1.0-1.5 mm long, 0.6-1.2 mm wide, irregularly polygonal, columnar; sterile male flowers 1.3-1.6 mm long, 1.0-1.6 mm wide, not well differentiated, obconical to narrowly anvil-shaped and drying dark distally; female flowers ca. 1.5 mm long, 0.6-0.9 mm wide, the stylar canals ca. 3. INFRUCTESCENCES: Ripe fruits not described. Seeds 0.9-1.0 mm long, 0.25-0.30 mm wide, virtually straight to somewhat curved, finely striate with the striae cancellate, drying dark brown and semiglossy.