Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Vines and Climbing Plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 415
5. SYNGONIUM
Epiphytic or hemiepiphytic herbs, usually climbing by means of aerial roots. Stems producing
abundant milky latex. Leaves simple or divided into 3-11 leaflets; petioles forming a leaf sheath at the
base. Inflorescences axillary, solitary or in groups of up to 11; peduncles of the inflorescence erect,
pendulous when fruiting; spathe fleshy, convolute, notably narrow in the middle, the tube ellipsoid, the
blade whitish to greenish, opening when mature; spadix shorter than the spathe, erect, with the pistillate
flowers in a basal position. Flowers unisexual, the perianth absent; stamens 3-4, united into a synandrium;
ovary with (1)2(3) locules, which contain 1 or less frequently 2 ovules; stigma discoid or bilabiate.
Fruit a berry, containing a single seed, united to form an ovoid syncarp. A neotropical genus of 33
species, the majority climbing.
1. Syngonium podophyllum Schott, Bot. Zeitung
(Berlin) 9: 85. 1851.
Fig. 171. A-C
Vine attainig 10 m in length, climbing by
means of adventitious roots that it produces in
the area of the nodes. Stems cylindrical, glaucous,
1-2 cm in diameter, producing milky latex when
wounded. Juvenile plants with hastate leaves;
adult plants with dimorphic leaves, the basal
leaves hastate, the distal leaves digitate, with 3-
11 leaflets, coriaceous, united or free at the base,
the basal leaflets smaller and auriculate at the
base, the middle leaflets 16-38 × 6-17 cm, obovate,
elliptical, or lanceolate, with the apex acuminate;
petioles 15-60 cm long, almost cylindrical.
Inflorescences in groups of 4-11, ascendant;
peduncles 8-9 cm long, slender; spathe ca. 10 cm
long, convolute at the base to form a tube, the
limb cream-colored on the inner surface, green
outside, concave, ephemeral; spadix whitish,
sessile, cylindrical, with a constriction between
the area of pistillate flowers and the staminate
flowers. Syncarp ovoid, red, reddish orange, or
yellow, 3-5.5 cm long.
Phenology: Collected in flower in February,
July and August.
Status: Exotic, naturalized, rather common.
Distribution: Species escaped from cultivation
and naturalized, of rapid proliferation, found
throughout Puerto Rico in moist disturbed areas.
Also on St. John and St. Thomas. Native to
Mexico, but widely cultivated throughout the
Antilles and tropical continental America.
Public Forests: Carite, El Yunque, Maricao,
Río Abajo, and Toro Negro.
References: Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & D.H. Nicolson (in prep.) Araceae. In: Acevedo-Rodríguez, P.
& M.T. Strong (eds.) Monocots of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contrib. U.S. National Herbarium.
Arias Granda, I. 1998. El género Philodendron Schott (Araceae) en Cuba. Feddes Repert. 109: 33-39.
Croat, T. B. 1997. A revision of Philodendron subgenus Philodendron (Araceae) from Mexico and
Central America. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 84: 311-704. Madison, M. 1977. A revision of Monstera
(Araceae). Contrib. Gray Herbarium 207: 3-100. Nicolson, D. H. 1987. Araceae. In: Dassanayake, M.
D. and F. R. Fosberg (eds.) Flora of Ceylon. Vol. VI. Amerind Publishing Company, New Delhi.