Rhaphidophora
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 ovules number eight or more and are superposed on two parietal placentas of the ovary. The flowers produce many, ellipsoid, straight seeds with a brittle and smooth outer coat.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.
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. The leaf venation is parallel, pinnate to reticulate.
Heterotypic synonyms
Raphidophora Hassk., Tijdschr. Natuurl. Gesch. Physiol. 9: 168, orth. var.Afrorhaphidophora Engl. in H.G.A.Engler & K.A.E.Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam., Nachtr. 3: 31.Taxonomy
Research on the chloroplast DNA sequence data 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.