''Rhaphidophora'' is a genus in the family Araceae, occurring from tropical Africa eastwards through Malesia and

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

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 perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower. It is a structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepal ...

. The spathe is shed after flowering. The

ovule In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: the ''integument'', forming its outer layer, the ''nucellus'' (or remnant of the sporangium, megasporangium), ...

s number eight or more and are superposed on two (rarely 3) parietal placentas of the

ovary The ovary () is a gonad in the female reproductive system that produces ova; when released, an ovum travels through the fallopian tube/ oviduct into the uterus. There is an ovary on the left and the right side of the body. The ovaries are end ...

. The flowers produce many, ellipsoid, straight seeds with a brittle and smooth outer coat (testa). These are hemiepiphytes, 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 bast fibers have typically abundant, long and slender trichosclereids, 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 pinnatifid 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 A chloroplast () is a type of membrane-bound organelle, organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant cell, plant and algae, algal cells. Chloroplasts have a high concentration of chlorophyll pigments which captur ...

DNA sequence data (trnL-F) has shown that ''Rhaphidophora'' and ''Epipremnum'' are

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

, 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 Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

References

* * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2666273 Araceae genera Taxonomy articles created by Polbot