- Seed parent: P. verrucosum
- Pollen parent: P. pastazanum x sodiroi (pastazanum 'Silver' aff. or pastazanum 'Gendry')
- Date of hybridisation: 06/01/2022
- Berries: white yellow - 16/10/2022
Size might differ from images shown. The baby plants have at least three leaves.
General background
Breeders: Alicia and Nige of 'Wild About Plants' in Australia
Tentative name: Batch ID #VerruX313 - Cultivar name: Philodendron 'Vespa'.
Parentage: Philodendron verrucosum x pastazanum silver aff
Seed bearer plant: Philo verrucosum
Pollen donor: Philo pastazanum silver aff (pastazanum x sodiroi, made in Kuranda not far from where we now live, in Australia puported by Howard Simpson in the 80s)
Fun Facts
1) This is the first time a new verrucosum hybrid has been made and documented, to seed on verrucosum itself. The gestation time was 10 months and 10 days (about 3 times longer than the average philodendron seed duration). The infructescence smelled like ripe pineapple.
2) The seed motherplant was verrucosum that went viral globally on social media, as it was grown indoor, hydroponically by Nige and Alicia to a very large size.
3) The pollen donor, itself was an Australian hybrid made by Howard Simpsons in Kuranda in Australia. It expressed high silver, especially when younger (with infloresence that has features of both pastazanum and sodioi). This means Verrux313 as a batch is a multigeneration complex philodendron hybrid.
4) Most of the known verrucosum hybrids in cultivation actually come from Australia.
Australian aroider Keith Henderson made both Philo 'Splendid' (melanochrysum x verrucosum) -both climber, Philo 'Majestic' (sodiroi x verrucosum) - both climbers.
5) This cross is unusual because unlike Splendid and Majestic, this is a love story between a climber (verru) and crawler (pastazanum silver aff) - and may express interesting diversity. Every plant is unique and worth collecting.
6) This also means new cultivars (multiple) may eventuate from as the offspring take heavily after each parent and grandparents's appearance and growth habit -- as each seed is unique and shall be different to cloned stem propagation or tissue culture.
7) Historically, it was a verrucosum hybrid --Philo corsinianum 'Bronze Shield' that was the oldest known man-made philodendron hybrid ever made, dating to 1880's. There's alot of mystery whether it was between a Philo lacerum or pinnatifidum and verrocosum or which was pollen/ovule plant
8) Expected traits - will be a fun combination of potentials - everything from whether it will inherit the fuzzy petioles, or the red abaxial, or the velveteen texture, or the silver, or whether it will climb or crawl, or be a spectrum of diversity (or dominated completely by one side of its mother or father) - will be fun to share and explore and first hand contribute to plant knowledge of philodendrons!
