Tree-like plant to 2 m tall, decumbent with age and with thick aerial roots, and thick stems with short internodes and marked by leaf scars. Leaves to about 1 m long, leathery, glossy, bent down, variously divided but generally more or less ovate in outline, the main divisions of the leaf with 1 vein from the midrib; leaf stalk more or less as long as the blade, with a flat upper surface and ridged edges. Spathe to about 30 cm long, greenish to purplish and with red edges outside, creamy inside. Syn. P. selloum C. Koch.
Many other species are occasionally sold including: P. cruentum Poepp. & Endl., P. domesticum Bunting, P. erubescens Koch & Augustin, P. guttiferum Kunth, P. imbe Endl., P. pedatum (Hook.) Kunth Syn. P. laciniatum (Vell.) Engl., P. radiatum Schott, and P. scandens Koch & Sello.
SE Brazil.
Plants sold under this name may be hybrids or cultivars. P. bipennifolium Scott, Fiddle-leaf Philodendron, from SE Brazil is a scrambling or climbing plant, the stems generally with relatively long internodes. Leaves to about 50 cm long, leathery, glossy, variously lobed but with a terminal obovate lobe, each lateral lobe with 2 or more veins from the midrib; leaf stalk cylindrical. Syn. P. panduriforme misapplied.
Source: (2005). Araceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
