Philodendron melanochrysum

Long, velvety dark green leaves with contrasting pale yellow-green venation and a bronze underside make Philodendron melanochrysum — the Black Gold Philodendron — one of the more recognisable aroids in the entire hobby. Native to humid montane rainforest in Colombia, it climbs as a hemiepiphyte and needs high humidity and a vertical support to mimic the tree trunks it ascends in the wild. Elongate, cordate leaves develop their full velvet depth and length with maturity and good climbing conditions, rarely showing their best form as a small, unsupported plant.

Native range

Native to Colombia; endemic to the Andean slopes of the Cordillera Occidental.

Classification

Genus

Philodendron

Family

Araceae

Type

Wild

Growth habit

Climbing hemiepiphyte

Morphology

Leaf shape

Elongate, pendulous-cordateHeart-shaped foliage, featuring a rounded notch (sinus) where the leaf stem attaches.

Leaf length

Large, up to 60cm+

Leaf width

Narrow

Petiole colour

Green

Venation

Prominent pale yellow-green

Texture

Velvety

Variegation

None

Growth habit

Climbing hemiepiphyteA plant that starts growing in soil but later ascends trees as a climber, supporting itself with aerial roots. with slender internodes