One of the nifty things about living here is the variety and size of the aroids.... Here is another of the giant aroids from my trip to the premontane cloud forest - Id would be greatly appreciated. The stalks were about 6' tall, and the leaves about 4' in diameter. The head in the first photo should give you a sense of scale; my friend is about 5'6" tall and was standing near the base of the plant. Photo number 2 gives a better sense of the leaf shape. It's leaf shape that's making me think of the Philodendrons, but I might be waaaay off here. Help?
Sigtris has better eyes than I do!! But he is certainly correct, there is pubescence (hair) on the petiole. Did you happen to get a photo of any of the juvenile forms? Since many Philodendron species morph as they grow, and so few of us ever get to see a fully grown adult, if you have a photo of any of the pre-adult plants we might be better able to give a good guess. However, there are Anthurium species that produce pubescence as well. Did you check the top of the petiole to see if there was a geniculum?
I'm working on some possiblities but a location would certainly help. Any reference to a nearby town or road would help narrow it down.
Michael, I believe that "hunormous" is a hybrid of huge and enormous. Also, the two pictures posted by lorax look like two different genera of aroids to me. The first one is a species of Xanthosoma, and the second one with pubescent petioles is of the genus Philodendron. LariAnn Aroidia Research
They´re the same plant, I assure you. Taken near Gualea, in Pichincha Province Ecuador. I do have some juvenile forms, and will post when I´ve got good internets. And yes, LariAnn is right, hunourmous is a portmantean word for huge and enormous.
I wasn't there so all I can do is examine the parts of the leaf blades in the photo. One of the leaves appears to be bullate (puffy), the other does not. One has the distinct appearance of a Xanthosoma sp. if you examine the leaf veins, the other does not. And the lateral leaf veins are not the same on each photo. One blade appears to be far more saggitate (arrow shaped) than the other which is both saggitate and ovate. Compare the lobes on the two. One has very rounded lobes while the other does not. I'm sure they were growing in close proximity, but from a purely botanical appearance, they appear to be very different species.
Definitely my bad, guys - they are different plants. My fault for mixing up photos. Here are some additional detail photos of the first plant type's leaf and inflorescences (numbers 1 through 3) and a photo of the inflorescence of the second type (number 4.) It may be helpful to tell you that mature plants like the ones in the first three photos actually develop into 8-10 foot trees, the only aroids I've ever seen that do that. I've been told repeatedly not to touch them, as they are fairly fragile and extremely caustic. Ah, and they are shiney because it was raining. In the sunshine they leaves have a matte finish. The second type seems to be more of a grower-on-trees, and the leaves in my initial photo are about the largest example I've seen on plants of the same type. This probably means I'm used to seeing younger examples of the species. They are definitely the hairiest aroids I've ever seen, and the hairs are fairly soft to touch (rather than brittle the way the hairs of nettles are, for example.)
