Guess this Aroid

Anyone want to try to guess what Aroid this is? A hint...its genus is close to Philodendron.

Very nice now try to cross it with a philo. I know the name but will let others guess at it. I saw it listed a few years back at a Cytrosperma.

I have no idea, I thought it was a Philo of some kind ... Very nice plant!

Thanks for not saying Brian. Ok then Ill give another hint...anyone who guesses the genus wins. It is from a pantropical genus, meaning members of this genus can be found on more than one tropical continent.

I'm going to take a guess, based on information I found at aroid.org and in Deni Bown's "Aroids", that the genus is Homalomena.

Is it prickly???

Wish I knew! Do you have another photo?

Cicada, your on the right track....the genus is Homalomena.
Alistair, yes the stems are slightly prickly.
No more pics though, a leaf pic would be too telling.

O.k., another attempt to narrow it down a little more. I think it might be Homalomena wendlandii.

Is it H.' Emerald Gem'? ... you got me so curious I've been googling, and found photo's of some real Beauties!

If it's not Emerald Gem, how about H. 'Red Velvet'

Oh, I also saw something that said Homalomena's are in the same family as Arum! I saw a photo of Italian Arum when I first joined DG a few months ago and Love the looks of that plant ... on my want list!

MichaelSC: I need help from someone and since you know these plants I thought maybe you could help me ID this thing. I bought this plant a couple of years ago and I remember the person at the Garden Center told me it was called Emerald Gem. Is this the Homalomena Emerald Gem? I have such a hard time Identifying plants from pictures on the internet, but I googled and found one that looks a lot like this.

Thanks for any help.

Lin


edited to say: I didn't mean to take over your thread, I should have done a separate one. Sorry. I just get so excited when I think someone may be able to help me with a name, that I forget that I can do an entirely new thread or post on the Identification forum!

This message was edited Apr 14, 2007 3:21 PM

Oh I've been googling wish I could win the plant. Plantladylin I love your plant !

Thanks Robin .. I don't have a clue as to what it is! I know it's not a Philodendron, but I don't know if it's related to that Homalomena or whatever it is called above! I love my plant and just had to buy it a couple of years ago when I saw it at a Target Garden Center!

I'm going to post the photo over on the Identification forum and see if anyone knows what it is.

I have Homalomena Emerald Gem (or at least that's what the tag says) but the flower is different. Love the flower on the question plant.

Cicada is right, it is Homalomena wendlandii from Ecuador. Plantladylin, your plant does look like H. Emerald Gem.
Thanks for guessing everyone!

Thanks Y'all! I did post on the ID forum and someone ID it as H. Emerald Gem! Nice to get a correct ID so I can properly label it and also read up on it's care. It's done pretty good for a couple of years on my shaded deck, so I guess I'm doing something right!

Congrats! to Cicada on the ID of MichaelSC's plant! It is a pretty one!

Micheal do you have full photo of your Homalomena wendlandii from Ecuador please.

I dont have a full image but I have a shot of a leaf if this will help.

Beautiful. Almost has a philo gloriosum look to it. The ones Dr Croat had years ago were amazing. He had three different forms with nice size spines on the stems. He said he had never seen them before and that the area he collected them from was being destroyed. I went back a few years later and the plants were all gone. Aparently died. I have photos of them in my vast archives. I will have to hunt them down. I thought they were new forms of cytrosperma at first manly due to the spines.

Beautiful Thanks for the photo !

Very nice!

I notice trhe leaf sheaths are very short for usual Homalomena (which this isn't!). Do the new leaves come out wrapped in their own bract or straight from the preceding leaf sheath??

Nice Plant!

Thanks all,
Alistair, the new leaves come striaght out of the preceding leaf sheaths...something I just noticed a few days ago while taking the picture of the flower.
I wonder if the South American Homalomena and Schismattoglottis species will ever be assigned their own genus. Alistair, do you have any thoughts on this. I asked Eduardo Gonclaves this one time and he thought they deserved their own genus. The South American Homalomenas just seem so different from their Asian counterparts. Even the ones just from the Neotropics are very varied in appearance.

Michael i've always thought there was something "wrong" with the neotrpical species of Schismatoglottis! i.e. they don't seem right for that genus.

I'm not so sure about the Homalomenas. It strikes me they are relictual in the Neotropics - a few diverse distinct species - where they are clearly in a mass radiation of species in Asia. The neotropical Homalomenas don't seem to be more closely allied to each other than they are to the Asiatic species, so if you take them out of Homalomena there is nowhere for them to go - they don't seem to form a group.

However, I don't know them that well...... so this is just me waffling :-)