Here's another unknown meconostigma that I have in my collection. This one I obtained from a homeowner in Coral Gables who was trimming his "hedge". The "hedge" was in full sun and consisted of this plant. I've had it since before hurricane Andrew. A year or so ago I went back to the home where it was before, and it is all gone, apparently victim to a home renovation project. My thought is that whoever lived there when I got my piece had brought it with them from south America because it was a familiar plant to them. The second picture shows this plant and another dwarf growing meco that I call my "dwarf speciosum", which is also not properly IDd. Both plants have bloomed, I have crossed using both, and both produce orange berries, unlike the P. bipinnatifidum types which produce whitish or cream colored berries. Both plants grow naturally dwarf in size and the plants in the picture are mature blooming sizes. Any ideas? LariAnn Aroidia Research
LariAnn, that is a very attractive aroid indeed, and that homeowner should have known better. On first look, it looks like nothing Mayo (or Eduardo) has in his paper from what I remember, but I've notified Julius/Leland of your pic. Must be pretty cool to live in FL with all these gems lying around; but then again, it would be cooler to live farther south as well ;-)
leland notes the following about the first unknown aroid: Aloha. I have something very similar to the first Philodendron with the acuminate anterior portion leaf blade...the one that is illustrated in both photos. I suspect it is a hybrid from Roberto Burle-Marx's collection that was originally collected by my friend, Paul Weissich. The mother plant is probably 20 feet up a tree and branches freely. My plant is much smaller, but growing fast. It looks like a cross between Philodendron speciosum and Philodendron stenolobum. Roberto had natural pollinators in his collection and I suspect many of these hybrids originated in his sitio. The interesting thing is that the texture and sheen to the leaf blades resemble true Philodendron williamsii. The vining and branching habit are similar to Philodendron corcovadense.
Having grown this plant for years, I can't imagine it being as dwarf as it is and having large parents such as P. speciosum. Also, the plant really does not vine and does not get a big size, even with ample fertilizer. A selfing of the plant does not yield a variety of hybrid segregates, as would be expected from selfing a plant of hybrid origin. Leland's may indeed be a hybrid and I cannot comment on his plant, having never seen it. I have hybrids using P. corcovadense and so I am quite familiar with how they look. One of them has somewhat similar leaves to my unknown meco, but the stem morphology gives it away as being a hybrid involving P. corcovadense. The stem morphology of my unknown resembles a typical meco with very close leaf scars and small squamules. LariAnn Aroidia Research
My first impression from looking at it was also that it is a hybrid actually, the reason being that I've gone over many of the meco papers and none of the species listed look like that. It would be cool though if that were a species; it would even be cooler if we could track how it came here.
Leland emailed this reply: Aloha LariAnn commented that her Philodendron has typical Meconostigma stem morphology with short internodes and small intravaginal squamules. My plant is also similar in this aspect. The large mother plant is decades old and under a tall, dense canopy tree. I estimate the diameter of my plant's stems to be about two inches across. The leaf blades on the old plant are two feet long by about one foot across. Petioles are approximately 18 inches long. The stems have very short internodes and intravaginal squamules about 1/16th of an inch. By vining habit, I mean that the very old plant is climbing on the canopy tree as if a vine, but, it must have done this quite slowly. It really does not look like the stems of Philodendron corcovadense in anyway except that it has a smaller size in general and that the hybrid( if that is what it is), may have some of these genes to contribute to the reduction in size with some large species. I do not know the exact parentage of this plant, but have seen more hybrids through the years so this plant reminds me of one. The mother plant's stems are also about two inches in diameter and 20 feet tall, but branched many times. The internodes are very short as it can be traced by the leaf scars, etc. The leaves always remain on the small side and look almost identical to LariAnn's photos, although her leaf blades may be more acuminately pointed on the terminal tip of the anterior portion of the blade. My posterior lobes also overlap a bit so that the naked sinus forms a circle with the lobes. In overall aspects, it looks almost identical. Speaking about natural hybrids that originated from Roberto Burle-Marx's collection, I had a Philodendron melinonii x that I grew for decades. I then saw the cross in Miami and from Asia that looked very similar. This hybrid looks like a Philodendron melinonii with lobed leaf blades. Roberto had the first Philodendron goeldii crosses that I knew of. Now I see many variations. There are hybrids in the other Philodendron species as well...but that is confusing to say the least, due to the numbers of species involved. That is the problem of having a very large collection in close proximity and having natural Philodendron pollinators about. Having said that, I have some gems that are hybrids, but know little about their parentage. I am still trying to learn about the species. Meconostigma is such a small subgenus and yet, we have, "miles to go before we sleep."
With regards to Leland's reference to hybrids in his post above...I'll also agree that there has been a surge in hybrids using this subgenus. I recall a hybrid that was sold in eBay in 2005 and went for around $400. It was one probably made by G. Hambali in Indonesia, who also is famous for Aglaonema hybrids over there. The hybrid looked somewhat similar to LariAnn's Philodendron "African Fantasy", and was also a P. goeldii x P, bipinnatifidum cross it looks like. This Hambali hybrid is making the rounds in East Asia; I've seen a picture of it from the Philippines as well. In addition to P. goeldii, P. stenolobum seems to be a favorite source of hybridization. I've seen P. stenolobum hybrids coming from Australia, although the parentage is somewhat unclear, but somewhat similar to LariAnn's Philodendron F2 'Maharlika' (I'm using a name that they not be the final one). I also know of a couple commercial hybrids that may have this as a parent. I have not seen hybrids from some of the "rarer" mecos, such as P. saxicolum and P. adamantinum (or even P. leal-costae), but given the unique foliage and/or life habits of these species, I'm sure the hybrids would have some fascinating characteristics. The only report of hybridization between a meco and another Philo I have is from Mr. Chumley, who says he has done P. imbe variegata with P. x evansii.
I came back to look for more information on Meconostigmas and after reading your post, I realized that I have one of the seedlings of that putative cross of imbe variegata and x evansii - I call it "selloum prime" for lack of a good name. It is not variegated but has a much heavier leaf substance than a regular "selloum". Otherwise, it looks like a typical big Meco, and it is fertile (crossed with the true williamsii in both directions). As you are well aware, Aroidia is a hotbed for Meco hybrids and I have done a lot of hybrids using P. saxicola and P. tweedianum in the past couple years. Can you believe P. saxicola x P. corcovadense? I have them. LariAnn
