ABSTRACT:

In the late 1980s, I was driving through Coral Gables, Florida, and spotting an unusual philodendron plant, I stopped to examine it. The plant was being grown in a front yard, as a hedge! The owner was trimming his ‘‘hedge’’ and on closer inspection I realized that this plant was a meconostigma philodendron, as it had blooms at the time. This plant showed several distinctive characteristics that aroused my interest, not the least of which was the fact that it had a natural branching and dwarf-growing habit when compared to more well-known meconostigma philodendrons. I asked the owner for some ‘‘clippings’’ and that was how I acquired what I now refer to as Philodendron ‘‘Coral Gables Dwarf’’. I am confident that it is an undescribed species that the owner might have brought back from his home country in South America, although I did not discuss the origin of the plant with him. Confirmation of this will have to await further taxonomic study of this plant.