From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at msn.com> on 2006.03.30 at 10:16:53(14022)
Reply-To : Discussion of aroids
Sent : Wednesday, March 29, 2006 6:23 PM
To : "Discussion of aroids"
Subject : [Aroid-l] Philo selloum ID
Attachment : DSC04314.JPG (0.24 MB), leaf1over50nchestiptotip.JPG (0.30
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Well Hello Sherry!
I have looked at the two photos of your impressivly large Philodendron, and
have an opinion on what it may be, BUT---if you can suppy just a few more
photos (I`ll detail what is needed, below) we may be able to nail it down
for certain. Take a photo (close-up) of the area where the petioles attach
to the rhizome that shows the intravaginial squamules (little longish (3/4"
or so, dark brown/blackish 'spines' that follow the scars left from the leaf
when it falls off).
I`d also like, if poss., to see a photo of the structure that you describe
as looking like a little pig-tail, that occures at the point on top where
the leaf blade meets the petiole. Were the blooms about 14" or more long
from the base of the spathe to the tip, green exterior, cream interior??
OK, to me this looks like a 'normal' but VERY healthy ADULT plant of
Philodendron bipinnatifidum (commonly called and sold as P. "selloum").
When grown under ideal conditions around here in Florida, these plants can
and usually do become HUGE in around 5-8 years, and will have developed a
long, impressive rhizome ("trunk"), in some older plants over 10-15 ft.
long, 8-10" dia.! These plants LOVE to attach to palm trunks with
seemingly special roots, and will then grow up the trunk, I have seen a
plant around 15 ft. tall when attached to a palm! When not growing in good
conditions, the same plants will mature at a smaller size.
We must also bear in mind that for the past few years all P. 'selloums' sold
(millions!) have been produced ONLY by tissue culture, ALL are clones of the
same plant. Previous to this (maybe 15-20 years ago??) all plants of this
used to be produced by hand-pollination, the seeds thus produced being
planted, so there USED to be much genitic variability between the plants
thus produced and then sold. One can still observe this if one is lucky
enough to find a VERY old group of these plants that were installed 'back in
the good old days' BEFORE tissue culture. Some are larger than the
'usual', some have many more 'fine' divisions to their leaf-blades, there
are differences in color and texture to the leaf viens, petioles, even the
color of the spathes, but all are most probably P. bipinnatifiddiom (= P.
"selloums").
When we see the new photos requested, we may be able to nail the ID of your
HUGE plant down for certain!
Good Growing and enjoy your monster!
Julius
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Hi everyone,
I have a large Philodendron selloum that I found hacked down on the side
of the road last May. It was dark when I found it, so all I could tell
immediately was that it was very big and had about a 4 1/2 ft. trunk. I
brought it home and soaked it in a large wagonfull of water with Ironite,
Superthrive, and a starter fertilizer (just a little weaker than they called
for) for about 5 days, then we planted the stalk about 3 ft. deep. The
entire plant is much larger than even the biggest P. selloums I've looked
at, and I have done some serious looking! The leaves were over 50 in. long.
and easily 36 in. across. The veins are larger, the flowers, the
petioles...everything about this plant is much larger than others. Where
the leaf meets the petiole (on top) there is a growth that starts out like a
little pigtail, and grows into a strange leaf or plantlet or something. It
has rooted since, but hasn't resumed growth just yet, but is definitely
alive.
I am hoping that maybe y'all might have an answer about it. I'm
including a picture, if you want to see more pics...just ask. I took
several after it was planted and still had the huge green leaves.
Since I found it, it seems like my husband & I have looked at every big
selloum we've seen since. We haven't seen anything like it. It's
absolutely beautiful!
Thanks for letting me take up your time. :)
Sherry
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