Rhaphidophora is a genus in the family Araceae, occurring from tropical Africa eastwards through Malesia and Australasia to the Western Pacific. The genus consists of approximately 100 species.
Description
This is a genus of evergreen, robust, climbing plants. The flowers are bisexual, lacking a
perianth. The
spathe is shed after flowering. The
number eight or more and are superposed on two (rarely 3) parietal placentas of the ovary. The flowers produce many, ellipsoid, straight seeds with a brittle and smooth outer coat (testa).
These are Epiphyte, plants capable of beginning life as a seed and sending roots to the soil, or beginning as a terrestrial plant that climbs a tree and then sends roots back to the soil. In rare cases they are terrestrial rheophytes (plants that grow in fast-flowing water).
Their have typically abundant, long and slender , merging with the fibers of the sclerenchyma. If the blade of the leaf is torn, many hairs become apparent. The leaf stalks bend abruptly at their top. The leaf margin is entire. The leaves are Pinnate to pinnatisect (cut with deep opposite lobing). The leaf venation is parallel (with veins running parallel for the length of the leaf), pinnate (one mid-vein with smaller veins branching off laterally) to reticulate (feather-veined).
Heterotypic synonyms
-
Raphidophora Hassk., Tijdschr. Natuurl. Gesch. Physiol. 9: 168 (1842), orth. var.
-
Afrorhaphidophora Engl. in H.G.A.Engler & K.A.E.Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam., Nachtr. 3: 31 (1906).
Taxonomy
Research on the
chloroplast DNA sequence data (trnL-F) has shown that
Rhaphidophora and
Epipremnum are
paraphyletic, forming three informal groups with other genera of the paraphyletic tribe
Monstereae. This may result in taxonomic changes in this genus.
The genera
Rhaphidophora,
Epipremnum, and
Monstera are poorly differentiated.
One cultivar, Rhaphidophora excelsa `Exotica' has been recognized.[ Aroid cultivar registry ]
File:Shingle Plant.JPG| Rhaphidophora korthalsii
File:Rhaphiodophora pertusa-BSI-yercaud-salem-India.JPG| Raphidophora pertusa
File:Rhaphidophora cryptantha P4218402.jpg| Rhaphidophora cryptantha
File:Raphidorphora decursiva (14617626995).jpg| Raphidorphora decursiva
Species
The following is a list of all 105 species accepted by Plants of the World Online :