Epipremnum

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Epipremnum
Epipremnum pinnatum leaves.jpg
Epipremnum pinnatum
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Subfamily: Monsteroideae
Tribe: Monstereae
Genus: Epipremnum
Schott
Synonyms [1]

AntheliaSchott 1863, illegitimate homonym, not Dumort. 1835

Contents

Epipremnum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae, found in tropical forests from China, the Himalayas, and Southeast Asia to Australia the western Pacific. [1] [2] [3] They are evergreen perennial vines climbing with the aid of aerial roots. [4] They may be confused with other Monstereae such as Rhaphidophora , Scindapsus and Amydrium .

All parts of the plants are toxic, mostly due to trichosclereids (long sharp cells) and raphides. Plants can grow to over 40 m (131 ft) with leaves up to 3 m (10 ft) long, but in containers the size is much reduced. The plants, commonly known as centipede tongavine, pothos or devil's ivy, depending on species, are typically grown as houseplants in temperate regions. Juvenile leaves are bright green, often with irregularly variegated patterns of yellow or white. They may find host trees by the use of skototropism. [5]

Spadix of Epipremnum pinnatum Dragon-Tail Plant (Epipremnum pinnatum) 6.jpg
Spadix of Epipremnum pinnatum
Epipremnum aureum Money Plant (Epipremnum aureum) 4.jpg
Epipremnum aureum

Etymology

From the Greek ἐπί (upon) and πρέμνον (stump). [6]

Species

  1. Epipremnum amplissimum (Schott) Engl. - Queensland, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, Vanuatu
  2. Epipremnum aureum (Linden & André) G.S.Bunting - native to Moorea in Polynesia; naturalized in Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, Queensland, Melanesia, Seychelles, Hawaii, Florida, Costa Rica, Bermuda, the West Indies, Brazil, and Ecuador
  3. Epipremnum carolinense Volkens - Micronesia
  4. Epipremnum ceramense (Engl. & K.Krause) Alderw. - Maluku
  5. Epipremnum dahlii Engl. - Bismarck Archipelago
  6. Epipremnum falcifolium Engl. - Borneo
  7. Epipremnum giganteum (Roxb.) Schott - Indochina (Syn. Monstera gigantea(Roxb.) Schot)
  8. Epipremnum meeboldii K.Krause - Manipur region of India
  9. Epipremnum moluccanum Schott - Maluku
  10. Epipremnum moszkowskii K.Krause - western New Guinea
  11. Epipremnum nobile (Schott) Engl. - Sulawesi
  12. Epipremnum obtusum Engl. & K.Krause - Papua New Guinea
  13. Epipremnum papuanum Alderw. - Papua New Guinea
  14. Epipremnum pinnatum (L.) Engl. - widespread across Southeast Asia, southern China, New Guinea, Melanesia, northern Australia; naturalized in West Indies
  15. Epipremnum silvaticum Alderw. Sumatra

Fossil record

Three fossil seeds of †Epipremnum crassum have been described from middle Miocene strata of the Fasterholt area near Silkeborg in Central Jutland, Denmark. Fossils of this species have also been reported from the Oligocene and Miocene of Western Siberia and the Miocene and Pliocene of Europe. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Araceae</span> Family of flowering plants

The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe. Also known as the arum family, members are often colloquially known as aroids. This family of 114 genera and about 3,750 known species is most diverse in the New World tropics, although also distributed in the Old World tropics and northern temperate regions.

<i>Bambusa</i> Genus of grasses

Bambusa is a large genus of clumping bamboos. Most species of Bambusa are rather large, with numerous branches emerging from the nodes, and one or two much larger than the rest. The branches can be as long as 11 m (35 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australasian realm</span> One of the Earths eight biogeographic realms

The Australasian realm is one of eight biogeographic realms that is coincident with, but not the same as, the geographical region of Australasia. The realm includes Australia, the island of New Guinea, and the eastern part of the Indonesian archipelago, including the island of Sulawesi, the Moluccas, and the islands of Lombok, Sumbawa, Sumba, Flores, and Timor, often known as the Lesser Sundas.

<i>Xanthosoma</i> Genus of plants

Xanthosoma is a genus of flowering plants in the arum family, Araceae. The genus is native to tropical America but widely cultivated and naturalized in other tropical regions. Several are grown for their starchy corms, an important food staple of tropical regions, known variously as malanga, otoy, otoe, cocoyam, tannia, tannier, yautía, macabo, ocumo, macal, taioba, dasheen, quequisque, ʻape and as Singapore taro. Many other species, including especially Xanthosoma roseum, are used as ornamental plants; in popular horticultural literature these species may be known as ‘ape due to resemblance to the true Polynesian ʻape, Alocasia macrorrhizos, or as elephant ear from visual resemblance of the leaf to an elephant's ear. Sometimes the latter name is also applied to members in the closely related genera Caladium, Colocasia (taro), and Alocasia.

<i>Cryptocoryne</i> Genus of aquatic plants

Cryptocoryne is a genus of aquatic plants from the family Araceae. The genus is naturally distributed in tropical regions of India, Southeast Asia and New Guinea. The English common name "water trumpet" refers to their inflorescence, a spadix enclosed by a spathe, which resembles a trumpet. The genus is commonly referred to as to as Crypts by aquarium hobbyists.

<i>Monstera</i> Genus of flowering plants

Monstera is a genus of 59 species of flowering plants in the arum family, Araceae, native to tropical regions of the Americas.

<i>Pothos</i> (plant) Genus of plants

Pothos is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. It is native to China, the Indian Subcontinent, Australia, New Guinea, Southeast Asia, and various islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

<i>Ptychosperma</i> Genus of palms

Ptychosperma is a genus of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. Most are native to Australia and/or New Guinea, with a few in the Solomon Islands and in Maluku Province of eastern Indonesia. Some have been cultivated abroad as house or garden plants, and reportedly naturalized in certain regions

<i>Rhaphidophora</i> Genus of plants

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.

<i>Schismatoglottis</i> Genus of flowering plants

Schismatoglottis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. Members of the genus are similar in appearance and growth habit to those of the genus Homalomena, but the two genera are not closely related. The primary difference is that the leaves of Schismatoglottis are not aromatic. Schismatoglottis are found primarily in tropical parts of Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and Melanesia. The majority of the species are native to the Island of Borneo.

<i>Scindapsus</i> Genus of flowering plants

Scindapsus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. It is native to Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Queensland, and a few western Pacific islands. The species Scindapsus pictus is common in cultivation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monsteroideae</span> Subfamily of flowering plants

Monsteroideae is a subfamily of flowering plants in the family Araceae.

<i>Cyrtosperma</i> Genus of flowering plants

Cyrtosperma is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. The genus went through considerable taxonomic changes in the 1980s, and as a result is now considered to be native only to Southeast Asia and some Pacific islands. Previously, the genus was believed to be widespread from Asia to Africa and South America, but the African and South American species were subsequently moved into separate genera. Cyrtosperma is now known to be most prominent in New Guinea. The genus Cyrtosperma is unique in this regard because it is the only known big genus in Araceae that is known to be found east of Wallace's line.

<i>Monstera adansonii</i> Species of flowering plant

Monstera adansonii, the Adanson's monstera, Swiss cheese plant, or five holes plant, is a species of flowering plant from family Araceae, which is widespread across much of South America and Central America. Monstera adansonii is classified as a hemiepiphyte vine and can be found in tropical forests with hot and high humidity conditions. Other regions this plant may be found in are the West Indies, Antigua, Grenada, Saba, St. Kitts, Guadeloupe, Marie Galante, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Tobago, and Trinidad. Currently, there are four recognized subspecies of Monstera adansonii subsp. adansonii, M. adansonii subsp. blanchetii,M. adansonii subsp. klotzschiana and Monstera adansonii subsp. laniata The species are quite common near river valleys at lower elevations.

<i>Hornstedtia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Hornstedtia is a genus of plants in the Zingiberaceae. It is native to Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, southern China, New Guinea, Melanesia and Queensland.

<i>Epipremnum ceramense</i> Species of flowering plant

Epipremnum ceramense is a plant species of family Araceae. This type of woody vine is endemic in Maluku Islands' rainforest.

<i>Epipremnum amplissimum</i> Species of plant

Epipremnum amplissimum is a species of flowering plant in the genus Epipremnum, native to Southeast Asia, from New Guinea to Vanuatu including northern Australia.

Epipremnum obtusum is a species of flowering plant belonging to the genus Epipremnum and the family Araceae.

References

  1. 1 2 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  2. Govaerts, R. & Frodin, D.G. (2002). World Checklist and Bibliography of Araceae (and Acoraceae): 1-560. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  3. Flora of China Vol. 23 Page 14, 麒麟叶属 qi lin ye shu, Epipremnum Schott, Bonplandia (Hannover). 5: 45. 1857.
  4. RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. ISBN   978-1405332965.
  5. Strong & Ray 1975.
  6. Quattrocchi, Umberto (2016-04-19). CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology (5 Volume Set). CRC Press. ISBN   9781482250640.
  7. Friis, Else Marie (1985). "Angiosperm fruits and seeds from the Middle Miocene of Jutland (Denmark)" (PDF). Det Kongelige Danske Videnskaberne Selskab, Biologiske Skrifter. 24 (3): 1–165.

Bibliography