The Variegated Thumb

 Velvet Philodendrons

Philodendron andreanum

This species name is most likely a synonym for Philodendron melanochrysum, which is included farther down in this post.

Philodendron camposportoanum – lost with maturity

As a juvenile plant, this Philodendron looks much like the common Philodendron hederaceum, except that it is a bit lighter.  With a little maturity (and something to climb), the leaves start to change shape, from cordate (heart-shaped) to something much more interesting.  Soon the satiny sheen to the leaves will be gone.  Personally, I like the adolescent phase of these leaves, as pictured below.

Philodendron gigas

As a young plant, it is hard to know the potential of this plant, since it looks nearly identical to Philodendron hederaceum ‘Micans.’  However, this plant can get huge leaves, when given an opportunity to climb.

Philodendron gloriosum

I purchased my Philodendron gloriosum at the IAS show this year, so I haven’t had it long.  But I am told that it is one of the easiest houseplant Philodendrons, not needing much light and really liking it’s feet wet.

Caldwell Nursery has a really nice hybrid of Philodendron gloriosum x Philodendron ventricosum shown below.

Philodendron hederaceum

If given something to climb, this plant will begin to produce larger, more mature leaves.  These leaves lose their velvety texture and become slick surfaced.  There are several cultivars of this plant, including ‘Micans’ (pictured below) and ‘Miduhoi.’  My ‘Micans’ is growing on my desk at work and is a beautiful, large plant, that keeps trying to climb the partition of my cubicle.

Philodendron melanochrysum

Based on the pictures I have of this plant, I would guess that the extreme velvetiness of the juvenile plants fades a bit with maturity to more of a satin sheen on larger plants.  This is one of my favorites.  It is like a giant version of Philodendron hederaceum ‘Micans’.

Philodendron ornatum

Caldwell Nursery has this plant for sale and their picture makes the plant look like it has a very similar texture to Philodenron hederaceum, as a juvenile. There are pictures of a mature plant on the IAS website which shows this species loses of it’s velvety texture and iridescence.

Philodendron UNKNOWN

This plant is native to Ecuador.  The photos below are from a friend who lives there and has photographed it in nature.  This species looks very similar to Philodendron verrucosum to me.

Philodendron ventricosum

This species is endangered, due to the loss of habitat where it grows in Ecuador.  I guess this explains, at least partly, why I could only find one picture of this plant.  I did find some other pictures of hybrids where this plant is crossed with Philodendron gloriosum.

Philodendron verrucosum

This one is especially unique because of the petioles (leaf stems) which are very hairy.  The only other Philodendron I know with such conspicuously furry petioles would be Philodendron squamiferum.  But this one has the added bonus of red and green velvet leaves.  How can you not love this plant?  Sometimes it is crossed with Philodendron melanochrysum to form another neat velvety Philodendron.

Other velvet aroids

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I will not try to list all aroids with velutinous leaves.  I have confined my challenge to Anthuriums and Philodendrons.  But I will include a couple of pictures I have taken over the years of velvety aroids outside of those two genera.

Alocasia ‘Frydek’ (also know as Alocasia ‘Green Velvet’)

The plant pictured below is growing in great number at the newly-renovated Myriad Gardens in Oklahoma City.  It is a very striking plant, with it’s very dark leaves offset by the pure white veins.

Scindapsus pictus

This beautiful little creeper/climber is becoming increasingly popular as a house plant, thanks to Angel Brand plants, which stocks Wal-Mart and Lowe’s buildings all over the country.  The foliage of this plant is satiny and has really neat silver patches.  And as a bonus, they grow pretty well in dark areas of the house.  Usually they are grown in hanging baskets or in a simple pot, allowing the plant to drape over the edge.  I had the rare opportunity to see one of these plants growing in a more natural setting, shingling up a rock wall in the tropical conservatory at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens.  It even had an inflorescence!  I have a couple of these plants myself and might try to get one to shingle for me in my greenhouse.

Syngonium wendlandii

This is a neat plant that I had for a while.  If kept trimmed, it will stay in a nice little clump in a pot.  But it really prefers to climb, as you can see in the photos.

Rhaphidophora tenuis

There are many shingling Monstera and Rhaphidophora which have satiny – or sometimes velvety – leaves in their juvenile forms.  As they climb higher into the trees, the plant changes considerably and they lose their dainty juvenile leaves, in favor of larger split leaves.  I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Peter Boyce and hear him speak at the IAS banquet this year.  He is the primary taxonomist working in the field in southeast Asia, identifying new species of aroids.

For those of you interested in growing velvety Anthuriums and Philodendrons, here is a list of sellers which carry some: Equatorial Exotics (in Australia), Eldon Tropicals, NSE Tropicals (Enid Offolter), Brian’s Botanicals (Brian Williams), and Ecuagenera.  Enid and Brian are members of the International Aroid Society and sell their plants through eBay.