Raphidophora vs. Monstera - or maybe neither?

From: Jonathan Ertelt jonathan.ertelt at vanderbilt.edu> on 2000.06.14 at 02:13:34(4761) I have been having trouble posting to the aroid list for the last few days - the following was posted for me by Jack last night, but I'm reposting it as part of a test to see if the listserve will accept my posts now. If you didn't see what follows when Jack posted it, it is worth looking at. Thanks Jonathan +More At 12:18 PM -0500 6/10/00, Julius Boos wrote: >Dear Jack, > >Many 'vining' Aroids do this, Philodendron, Monstera and Raphidophora come >to mind, it is a response to the growing conditions, and is a 'juvinile' >form of the plant which does and will change to one with 'normal' leaves >once it encounters different/'better' conditions higher up the tree, rock >face, or in the case of Fairchild Gardens, the wall! >Good luck in your quest! > Julius, Jack, et al., This is a most interesting plant growing at Fairchild. The difficulty regarding the 'juvinile' vs. 'normal' leaf type for this species is what can one mean by juvinile? The reason I ask this is that this plant blooms underneath those shield-like leaves, and has been doing so for years. Craig Allen was generous enough to let me have a piece when I was at UNC Charlotte, to grow there, and pointed out this phenomenon. He said, if I remember correctly, that it was labeled Raphidophora because they didn't know what else to label it. However, the inflorescences are small, not protruding from underneath the appressed shingle leaves - you don't know it's blooming unless you a.) prune it back, or b.) grow it on glass and look at it from the back side! It does certainly look like the silver-white veined plant that Geoffrey Kibby put on his website (Hello Geoffrey!) I am by no means an expert on Araceae - however, I would venture to say that the shingles leaves here are the mature leaves, and that this does not fit into any standard understanding of any of the genera in the tribe Monstereae. Regarding the idea of mature leaves, a healthy plant in good light will have leaves slightly overlapping - same plant goes to low light or falls from support, internodal growth stretches out and leaves can be greatly reduced. Improve conditions, leaves will go to previous description - i.e. always shingle type leaves, including after blooming has commenced, as stated above. Regarding not in any genera in Monstereae, this is simply based on a quick glance through of illustrations in _The Genera of Araceae, and a scanning of descriptions. Would be most interested in hearing opinions advanced. Good Growing. Jonathan Jonathan Ertelt Greenhouse Manager Vanderbilt University Biology Department Box 1812, Sta. B Nashville, TN 37235 (615) 322-4054

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