International Aroid Society

32. Syngonium wendlandii Schott, Oesterr. Bot. Z. 8:178. 1858. TYPE: Costa Rica, San Jose, Santa Ana (ca. 10 km W of San Jose), Wendland s.n. (B, now destroyed; Schott drawing 3243 seen).

Juvenile plants with stems not glaucous; internodes at first short, 2-4 cm long, becoming longer, to 10 cm long; petioles sheathed 1/3-3/4 their length (usually less than 1/2); blades cordate, to 10 cm long, the anterior lobe ovate, acuminate, the posterior lobes semiorbicular; intermediate blades sagittate to hastate, the posterior lobes triangular, the upper surface velvety green, the major veins streaked with silver gray. Adult plants with stems green, not glaucous; internodes 1-5 cm long, 0.5-2.5 cm diam.; petioles 10-32 cm long, sheathed 1/2-4/5, their length, the free portion above the sheath acutely angled medially, the lateral margins acute; blades trisect, dark velvety green, sometimes with a streak of silver gray, the epidermis of conspicuous papillate cells; median leaflet 8-20 cm long, 2-8 cm wide, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, acuminate at the apex, acute to cuneate at the base; primary lateral veins 6-10 pairs; lateral leaflets 7-15 cm long, 3-6 cm wide, oblong-elliptic to narrowly ovate, acute to acuminate at the apex, inequilateral, the inner margin acute, the outer margin rounded to auriculate, the auricles sometimes pinched off, oblong-elliptic, to 3 cm long.
Inflorescences 1-3 per axil; peduncles 8-10 cm long, obtusely triangular; spathe tube 5-6 cm long, 2-2.5 cm diam., narrowly ovoid, pale green outside, red inside; spathe blade elliptic, 8-10.5 cm long, acuminate at the apex, pale yellowish green outside, white inside; spadix weakly sigmoid, curved outward in the pistillate and lower part of the sterile staminate portions, then turned inward again in the upper part of the sterile staminate section; pistillate portion of the spadix 1.5-2 cm long, to 1 cm diam., the flowers irregularly 6-sided, the stigma orbicular or 2-lobed; staminate portion of the spadix white, 5.5-8.5 cm long, more or less cylindroid and markedly tapered onto the sterile staminate part of the spadix; the staminate flowers 2-4-androus (usually 4), the synandrium crenate near the apex, the area effusion of the stamens somewhat visible; the sterile staminate flowers irregular, larger than the fertile flowers and well-spaced for the genus.
Infructescences pendent, oblong; syncarp oblong, 2.6-5.8 cm long, 1.4-2.4 cm wide, white to brown (fide Birdsey, 1955); seeds not seen. Figs. 76-78.

DISTRIBUTION: The species is endemic to Costa Rica, occurring at about 1000 m elevation in premontane moist forest in the Meseta Central, west of the city of San Jose.
It can be recognized by its trisect leaves with a densely papillate upper epidermis and by its inflorescence with a frequently sigmoid spadix and widely spaced sterile staminate flowers.
The species is most easily confused with S. hoffmannii, a species with similar leaves that occurs at higher elevations (1500-1800 m) on the slopes surrounding the Meseta Central. The latter species is distinguished by the lack of conspicuous papillate leaf epidermis and by having a stouter spadix that is scarcely constricted at the base with the sterile staminate flowers closely compacted. Under magnification, the papillae on the upper surface of the leaf blades of S. wendlandii appear as minute reddish-brown glands (on dried specimens).
Birdsey (1955) is of the opinion that the leaves of the type specimens that have been photographed in Berlin were switched, with each species having its proper inflorescence but the leaves of the opposite species. (See photo FM 12299 for S. wendlandii and FM 12294 for S. hoffmannii.) The actual specimens of both species are no longer extant having been destroyed both at Berlin and Vienna;
nor is the type of S. wendlandii among the specimens of the Wendland collection now housed at Gottingen.
I am not necessarily in agreement with Birdsey that the Berlin type photos are mixed. While the leaves of S. wendlandii are easily distinguishable by the conspicuous papillae on the upper leaf surface, these cannot be distinguished from the photos. The two species have leaves that are otherwise rather similar. In my opinion the leaf on the Berlin photo (FM 12294) of S. hoffmannii matches
closely the original Schott drawing (Schott Aroideae 3212) prepared at Vienna under the direction of Schott from the original (probably living) material collected by Wendland. It is possible, on the other hand, that the Berlin type photo of S. wendlandii (FM 12299) represents a mixed collection with perhaps a leaf of S. hoffmannii since this leaf does not so closely match the original Schott painting in Vienna (Schott Aroideae 3243).
COSTA RICA: ALAJUELA: Vicinity ofCapulin, Standley 40120 (US). SAN JOSE: Rio Maria Aguillar, Standley 38990 (US); Wendland Photo #12299 (US).