1 Philodendron bipinnatifidum

Philodendron bipinnatifidum.

Common names include Tree philodendron or Split leaf philodendron.

In cultivation it is often seen as a terrestrial, shrub-like plant sometimes with a thick trunk-like stem.

With trees nearby it can become a climber growing metres high and wide.
The trunk-like stems can be produced in the ground or metres up a vine.
They have large leaf scars and aerial roots.

It can also be an epiphyte with many long, strong aerial roots that add support and also absorb water and nutrients.

The shiny, deep green leaves, up to 1 or 1.5 m long, are on equally long stalks.
The ovate or spear-shaped leaves can be simple with wavy edges, or deeply lobed.

Inflorescences are a spadix surrounded by a spathe that is green to purplish-red outside and cream inside with a red edge.

Flowers on the white spadix have no perianth.
An area of sterile flowers separates the upper male flowers from the females at the base.
The female ones are partly protected by the tube-like lower part of the spathe.

J.F.