IAS Aroid Quasi Forum

About Aroid-L
 This is a continuously updated archive of the Aroid-L mailing list in a forum format - not an actual Forum. If you want to post, you will still need to register for the Aroid-L mailing list and send your postings by e-mail for moderation in the normal way.

  Philodendron williamsii. It isn't what mostcollectors
From: Steve at ExoticRainforest.com (ExoticRainforest) on 2008.04.15 at 21:53:12(17396)
It certainly does for me Leland. Most of this I knew already due to my numerous exchanges with Eduardo Gon?alves in Brazil, with Julius and with Dr. Croat but you just gave me some new material I can add to the pages to make it all clearer.

I truly hope the individual who wrote to tell me the page on Philodendron williamsii is wrong is on this forum. Once I answered they never responded again. I try my best to be accurate and love to be able to quote material from you, Dr. Croat, Julius, Eduardo, Ron Weeks, Joep Moonen and others since I fear people who are new to aroids will just accept some of the confusing material found on the net. Much of the information easily found is simply inaccurate. I also know many people consider me a quack and I certainly make no claim to be an aroid expert. I'm just privileged to know a bunch of you guys and gals who truly are aroid experts!

Thanks for the input. I'll certainly be editing some of this into the appropriate pages.

Steve Lucas

+More
From: Steve at ExoticRainforest.com (ExoticRainforest) on 2008.04.18 at 13:30:55(17420)
I thought I'd offer a follow up to all of you Philodendron collectors on the response I'm getting to the explanation I made about Philodendron williamsii being very different from the plant often sold with that name (which is Philodendron stenolobum). I've received two very interesting responses this week.

The first came from a collector in regard to a similar post I made on the UBC Botanical Garden plant forum. That collector was insistent that I was wrong as well as Leland who I quoted and also Dr. Eduardo Gon?alves since they found the name Philodendron williamsii under a photo of Philodendron stenolobum in Graf's Exotica. In their opinion Graf was the ultimate expert. I'm sorry to report, but most botanical experts discount many listings in Graf's books as inaccurate.

I sent that person this response from Dr.Gon?alves, which he sent to Julius Boos in response to a question from Julius, "All horticultural "P. williamsii" is now P. stenolobum. The real P. williamsii is a completely different species, occurring in coastal Bahia state and is rather rare. I don?t have it in cultivation and I have never seen a living specimen in any collection I have visited. It looks like a P. speciosum (or like a huge P. corcovadense), but is somewhat smaller in overall dimensions. I have collected it twice in southern Bahia and I have seen a few more collections in Herbarium. Philodendron stenolobum is only known from Espirito Santo state and is much more common, being found by me in many different localities. I don?t know when or where the confusion began, but P. stenolobum is called P. williamsii in lots of old publications (including Graf?s Exotica). Simon in his revision of Philodendron Meconostigma included P. stenolobum specimens in P. williamsii, probably because he hadn?t enough go
od material of P. stenolobum to be sure it was a different thing." I got no response.

I also ran across a listing on eBay this week for a specimen of Philodendron stumblebum but the seller was calling it Philodendron williamsii. That seller sent a very nice response but assured me they were sure their name was right since several Philodendron experts in Miami has told them the correct name was Philodendron williamsii. This only points out how many people use the wrong name on this plant. I sent that individual Dr. Gon?alves quote as well.

It is unlikely I'll ever make much of a dent in this common error in names, but I'm trying and hope all of you will change your tags if you have the wrong name on a specimen. It isn't bad to be wrong if you have a wrong name on a tag. Its a simple thing to change the tag and try to learn the correct information. And that is all I ever wanted to do by bringing up this subject.

Steve Lucas

+More
Note: this is a very old post, so no reply function is available.