This is a part of my exchange with Dr. Croat: "I think that what most people are calling Philodendron variifolium Schott is really P. brandtianum K. Krause, an appressed-climbing hemiepiphyte which when juvenile has blades that are variously variegated with gray.  Somehow Graf got a picture of this in Exotica 3 and labeled it P. variifolium.  The type of P. variifolium is a more or less 3-lobed species which was collected at the same sight as P. deflexum and indeed was one of three competing plants all with the same number competing for the name P. deflexum Poeppig.  It is actually possible, I believe, that the real P. variifolium is really P. deltoideum.  Marcela Mora and I have a paper on this subject in press."    

Dr. Croat then sent this note after reviewing my photo (left).  Hopefully this will help correct the confusion caused as a result of Mr. Graf's error in his book Exotica 3.  Despite the popularity of Mr. A. B. Graf's books, he was a horticulturist and did not have the scientific training of a botanist.  His texts have been found to have multiple scientific name errors.  Dr. Croat wrote regarding the juvenile specimen shown on this page, "I would say this is P. brandtianum.  It ranges from Central Brazil to lowland Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.  The variegation disappears in the adult plants." 

In a subsequent email (sent to Denis Rotolante of Silver Krome Gardens in Miami, FL), Dr. Croat continued regarding the name Philodendron variifolium, "The adult plants are rather large and have no variegation at all. I suspect that in pots or even on a totem it would never turns into the adult form in the same way that Philodendron hederaceum has remained juvenile in cultivation for centuries owing to the lack of ideal conditions for becoming adult. It must climb about 10 meters or so, climb out onto branches, then becomes pendent for 3 or more meters then it flowers."

Based on Dr. Croat's field notes published on the Missouri Botanical Garden website TROPICOS, Philodendron brandtianum grows as an epiphyte (ep-a-FIT), a hemiepiphyte (hem-a-EPA-fit), and a terrestrial form sometimes found in nature sprawling across the ground.  An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant and finds its way onto a tree branch as a seed in the droppings of a rain forest bird or animal that has eaten the fruit produced by the aroid's inflorescence.  A hemiepiphyte is similar but often begins life as a seed which has fallen to the ground.  Philodendron brandtianum grows as a climbing vine pressed (appressed) tightly against the host tree. 

Very different when compared to the juvenile form, the leaf blades of the adult leaf of Philodendron brandtianum are subcoriaceous (less than leathery to the touch) and are a dark green as well as semi-glossy on the adaxial (upper) surface.  The blades do not have the variegation of the juvenile.  The underside of the leaf blade is semi-glossy but paler in color.  The adult blade's underside is the same color throughout (concolorous).  Juvenile plants are noticeably variegated with light and darker greens.   In the wild, Philodendron brandtianum must climb to a substantial height in to develop the large leaves as well as produce an inflorescence. 

The cataphylls which surround any newly emerging leaf blade are sharply single ribbed and a medium green in color.   The cataphylls are bract like modified leaves that surround and protect the newly emerging leaves and are the singular most important identifying characteristic of an aroid.  The cataphylls are deciduous and soon fall from the plant.  The petioles which support the leaf blades are terete (round) and are a dark green in color.   

The photos at the top of this page as well as to the right (below) are from the collection of Enid and Sam Offolter at Natural Selections Exotics in Fort Lauderdale.   A similar specimen to the juvenile shown above was judged "Most Unusual Aroid" at the 2005 International Aroid Society Show and Sale at Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Miami, FL.  It won that award using the name Philodendron variifolium. 

All Philodendron species are aroids. An aroid is a plant that reproduces by producing an inflorescence known to science as a spathe and spadix.  Many believe the spathe is a "flower" but it is not. The spathe is simply a modified leaf appearing to be a hood .  When an aroid is referred to as "flowering" the reference is to the very small flowers found on the spadix.  The reference has nothing to do with the spathe.   Within the inflorescence there are extremely small flowers found on the spadix at the center of the inflorescence. The inflorescence, which is sometimes shaped like a tube and often known by collectors as a  "flower" is the spathe and inside that is the spadix.  When ready to reproduce, the spadix produces both male, female and sterile flowers which if pollinated will produce the berries containing seeds.  

Philodendron species are known to be highly variable and not every leaf of every specimen will always appear the same.  This link explains natural variation and morphogenesis within aroid and other species.  Click here

Want to learn more about aroids?
Join the International Aroid Society:  http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Join%20IAS.html

Specimens may be available from 

Natural Selections Exotics   

Brian's Botanicals http://www.briansbotanicals.net/

If you are seeking information on other rare species, click on "Aroids and other genera in the Collection" at the top and look for the