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----- Original Message -----
From:
Don
Bittel
To: aroid-l@gizmoworks.com
Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 9:20
PM
Subject: Re: [Aroid-l] Philodendron
'Santa Leopoldina'
dear aroid-l, I have been following the
many threads of the discussion about Philo. Santa Leopoldina, and now hope
to clear up some confusion. What started the confusion for me years ago
was seeing the pictures in Graf's Exotica and Tropica labeled as Santa
Leopoldina. These plants are clearly what we are now calling Philo.
superbum, and not spiritus-sancti. When this plant was sold as S. L. in
the US and Australia, few people knew of the real plant.
The second major confusion about Santa Leopoldina came from Bette
Waterbury's article. The picture on page 8 shows a long leafed form, and
the caption says that this is type 3, which is more hastate and silvery
green. THIS IS A TYPO. It was never corrected in a future Aroideana. In
Bette's letters, she makes note of the typo, but does not say what the
correct type is. It is clearly type 1 or type 2, which are
spiritus-sancti. If the photo was in color, we could tell if it was the
red form or the green form. We may never know since the original photos
are lost. Bette's type 3 and type 4 are most likely
Philo. atobapoense. They can be silvery green, red backed, or completely
green. I have seen the same plant show all these forms at different stages
of development. Telling these plants apart is easy when
you are dealing with large leaves. Spiritus-sancti has longer narrower
leaves that average 6 to 8 times longer than wide. Superbum and
Atobapoense have leaves that average 3 to 4 times longer than wide. But on
smaller plants these ratios are not as obvious. So we look at the
petioles, which are completely different.
Spiritus-sancti, the real Santa Leopoldina, has petioles that are U-shaped
to rounded in cross section. they are not wider than they are tall. the
big feature is that they are sulcate or canaliculate on the top surface,
meaning they have a groove or channel. this groove is fairly deep and
obvious, V-shaped, and has ridges on the top edges. these ridges are at
about 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock, and not at the widest points like in a
D-shaped petiole. The stem also has random red
dots. Philo. atobapoense, or type 3 and 4, has
petioles that are rounded to oval shaped in cross section. they are
usually wider than tall, and have no canal or ridges. the top surface is
slightly sunken on larger leaves, but is also much wider. also has red
dots olong the stem. Philo. superbum, the
false leopoldina, has petioles that are truly unique. They are D-shaped in
cross-section, with a fairly flat top, and rounded top edges. the most
obvious feature is the longitudinal lines and grooves all along the stem.
they are white green on top, cbanging to red on the bottom, with no red
dots like the others. and certainly no channels or
canals. So the people who have posted photos of
these plants should be able to put a name on these just by the shape of
the petioles. The propagation of spiritus-sancti by
cuttings is a slow process since it is such a slow grower. But it may be
our only hope. Tissue culture has failed twice that I know of. And seed
propagation may be very unlikely also. Six flowers on 2 different plants
this past summer failed to perform like normal philos. The females didn't
act receptive or heat up, and no pollen was shed during the male phase to
pollinate the next opening flower. It's no wonder that they are a rare
plant. I hope this has been some help.Don
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