Re: P. cv winterbourn "Xanadu"

From: Tom Croat <croat at mobot.org> on 1997.01.28 at 02:41:23(246) Neill: I just looked at a photograph of Philodendron 'Xanadu' and to me it really doesn't look much like P. subg. Meconostigma but you could be right. Philodendron subg. Philodendron does have interpetiolar squamules but they are quite tiny and ephemeral, usually falling off soon so that you don't even see them. The sap of Philodendron is a turpenoid, I think, smelling quite a lot of turpentine. That scent is rather uniformly present in Philodendron but there is a similar scent in some other genera as I recall but I really can't remember which. Homalomena is related to Philodendron but it usually has a scent of anise in the New World tropics. Tom +More > > Tom > I have had my plant since 1990. There are four separate trunks in the > pot, each of which is around 1 to 1.25 inches in diameter. It has the > classic prophyll and leaf scar pattern on the trunk and I counted around > 80 leaf scars on one trunk that was about one foot high. There are very > small intra vaginal squamules on the trunk between the leaf scars.I have > compared this trunk to those on my P.undulatum and P.williamsii and I > would think it reasonable to consider that its heritage is within > subgenus Meconostigma.I wonder what species it's parents might be? The > leaves are not large, around 8 to 10 inches > long and sharply pinnatifid from halfway to two-thirds of the way from > leaf margin to midrib, more so with mature leaves. Immature leaves are > just undulate at the margins. The leaves are quite glossy and when you > break an old leaf from the trunk the sap is very acrid smelling ,the most > powerful of any Philodendron sap I know. Incidentally just about all my > Philodendrons share a characteristic smell in their sap. Is this a > defining characteristic of the genus and do you know what chemical > compound causes this smell? For those Philodendron growers out there who > might think I've been smelling something else !, I suggest they break an > old leaf off and take a whiff !! > Any comments ? > > kind regards Neil > > Neil Crafter > Adelaide Australia > golfstra@cyvox.net.au > > >

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