Rhaphidophora beccarii

Rhaphidophora beccarii, described by Engler, is a tropical climbing aroid from the humid lowland and hill forests of Peninsular Thailand to Western Malesia. It ascends tree trunks by means of adventitious attachment roots in shaded to filtered light beneath the forest canopy, where humidity is maintained throughout the year. It is a strongly heteroblastic species: juvenile leaves are small, coriaceous, and tightly appressed to the substrate in a characteristic shingling behaviour, while adult leaves breaking free of the shingle phase are considerably larger, thick and elliptic to ovate, with entire margins and assertive venation. The contrast between juvenile and adult growth is pronounced enough to cause regular misidentification. Beccarii occupies the accessible end of the collector Rhaphidophora spectrum, less extreme in its shingling habit than cryptantha or hayi but botanically interesting and genuinely ornamental in its adult form.

Native range

Peninsular Thailand to Western Malesia (humid lowland and hill forest)

Classification

Genus

Rhaphidophora

Family

Araceae

Type

Wild

Growth habit

Climbing hemiepiphyte, strongly heteroblastic

Morphology

Leaf shape

Juvenile: small, appressed, coriaceous; Adult: elliptic to ovateEgg-shaped leaves, with the wider end near the base., entire margins

Leaf length

Juvenile 3-8 cm; Adult 15-30 cm

Leaf width

Juvenile 2-5 cm; Adult 10-20 cm

Petiole colour

Short to moderate, green

Venation

Strong, prominent on adult leaves

Texture

Coriaceous, semi-glossy

Variegation

None

Growth habit

Shingling juvenile phase; scandentClimbing or scrambling upward, typically requiring vertical support. adult phase with aerial roots at nodes