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purpleinopp

Aroid I don't know, some kind of Philo?

Found this at the garden center today, in the ICU section. It was in a GIANT pot and I asked the guy if he could just pull it since I can't deal with a pot that big, and I wanted to see the roots first. He started pulling, and pulling, and pulling, and finally the whole root came out, almost 4 feet long! When I got home I checked it out closer and noticed a bunch of nubs where it's getting ready to break out into new stems. A 4-foot root is totally not necessary and wouldn't fit in any pot I have, so I cut it off. The inside of the root is an orangish purple color. The leaves are so pleasantly smooth to touch.

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I left this part of the still-attached root on the main plant uncovered because of these 2 nodes.

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I don't know if those pieces of root will make their own plants, but I was cutting it off anyway, worth seeing what happens and it just looks like they will grow, each has a foliage nub at the top.

Comments (22)

  • plantomaniac08
    11 years ago

    Looks like Philodendron 'Prince of Orange' to me. It's a Philodendron hybrid.

    Planto

  • tropicbreezent
    11 years ago

    My Philodendron 'Prince of Orange'has more distinctly orange coloured leaves which later turn to green. This one looks more like my P. erubescens Red Emerald. It holds that reddish colour a lot longer.

    Just roots on their own won't do anything. But if it's got parts of the stem then those should sprout new plants.

  • birdsnblooms
    11 years ago

    Howdy,

    Yep, your plant is definately Philodendron. At first I thought, 'Bloody Mary,' but after staring at its leaves, I believe it's 'Black Cardinal.'

    I have BC but don't feel like breaking its trunk to check color, lol. Toni

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Just roots on their own won't do anything.

    This got me thinking more about what the plant store guy said. He said it had "died" but "came back to life." I asked if he thought it had gotten too wet and he said he thought it was too dry. (Whew inside my head!) When he pulled it, it came out so easily, I didn't hear any tiny roots breaking like I thought I would. Now I'm wondering if it had been repotted very recently (like out of a more expensive, decorative pot and into that giant ugly black nursery pot) and most of that "root" was really the old stem that got put under the soil? I don't usually make a mistake between a root and a foliage node, but I could be wrong, they're just fat little purplish bumps still. It seems like my heart-leaf Philo sends up new shoots from the roots...

    Of course nothing's happening yet except the node closest to the growth at the tip looks a little bigger. Could be just wishful eyesight... When something looks different, I'll post another pic.

    Thanks for the responses!!

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Went back to the store today and asked about this plant. The part where the "leaf buds" are IS the old stem. This time I talked to the wife and she said that plant used to be HUGE, too big to deal with at one point and got neglected. I had picked out some other things and she pulled the rest of this plant that was still there and gave me half of it, and a discount.

    This is just what the other piece looked like but the stem part I thought was a root was 4 ft. long. Kind of sad at the moment but I'm sure these leaves will soon be gone, replaced with beautiful new ones.

    {{gwi:90641}}

    {{gwi:90642}}

  • tropicbreezent
    11 years ago

    You can see the old leaf scars on the stem, and new nodes/shoots start near them. Given a little time you should get new growth all along those stems.

    After seeing Hopefulauthor's post I might revise my ID to Black Cardinal as well. Looking at the leaf again, it's slightly more rounded than erubescens.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    tropic, I think so, too, thanks! Definietly signs of growth on the "sticks"

    Two on this one:
    {{gwi:90643}}

    Lookin' good at the top
    {{gwi:90644}}

    At the bottom
    {{gwi:90645}}

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    If I tell y'all this has been one of the most exciting things happening at my house, to me, plant-wise for the past few weeks, that probably tells you a lot about how much I like to "play" with the plants. Anyhoo, the piece of "stem" that was farthest from the leaves when I broke it up has grown the world's smallest Philo leaf.

    {{gwi:90646}}

    The other parts are still hard to see, especially with a phone for a camera, so I put some arrows this time to show where the growth is swelling out.

    {{gwi:90647}}

    {{gwi:90648}}

  • goddess9
    11 years ago

    Purple,

    isn't it the "little" things that make gardening worth it? I have a Haw that did nothing for about 5 months and finally made a pup. I was over the moon like you. Congrats on having such a willful plant!

    Lauren

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks! Stuff like this seems like there is something being created from nothing. I'm blown away, as I always am when propagation experiments succeed.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    The mama plants are recovering well, here's a new leaf that just unrolled:

    {{gwi:90649}}

    The newest leaf before that has aged to this:

    {{gwi:90650}}

    The mama overall, I really want to remove that upside-down leaf that was under the soil when I got the first part but there are so few and it's probably contributing quite a lot still. The leaves feel so smooth and silky and "luxurious," like a really thick elephant ear leaf.

    {{gwi:90651}}

  • stewartsjon
    11 years ago

    P. Imperial Red? Or is it lighter leaved than these on my bench?

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks for the suggestion! Your plants are lovely but overall more reddish on the mature leaves. My plant's older leaves are more dark green. So I don't think so, but wouldn't bet any money on it from just a picture.

    Is that your house? The striped plants right behind, on the right, are very attractive! Alocasias?

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    The little stem sections are showing major progress.

    {{gwi:90652}}

    {{gwi:90653}}

    This is the one that made the "world's smallest Philo leaf"
    {{gwi:90655}}

    So, the leaves start out red, progress to orange, then dark green. I wish everyone could FEEL this leaf!
    {{gwi:90657}}

  • stewartsjon
    11 years ago

    Hi there, no that's a photo of my office - here's another one to make you houseplant fans jealous. I work for a interior landscaping company - this was when we had a massive hire event coming up, not usually quite that full. Still got some of those ex-hire Boston Ferns kicking about from January!

    As for what was behind the red Philos in the pic before, they are Stromanthe Amabilis if you're looking at the black striped leaves.

  • stewartsjon
    11 years ago

    Having Googled it, I think the poster who suggested Philo "Prince of Orange" was on the button.

    I might try & order some from Holland next week, see if they are commercially available.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    As for what was behind the red Philos in the pic before, they are Stromanthe Amabilis if you're looking at the black striped leaves. Yes I was, thanks!

    That's some office!

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Progress update...

    One has been repotted. It's growing from about 10 different places, 2 of which came up from under the arbitrary "soil level" I had selected for this stem cutting.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    The "mamas"

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I gave this one away on the 11th. Here's a pic before it left. Good stuff!

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    This is the littlest one (as of yesterday, which all of today's pics were except the one I gave away.) It has also started 2 new tips from "under the soil."

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    This part is winning the fastest-growing award for all of the versions of this plant that I have. Last pic was about 2.5 months ago. Way bigger now. This is the coolest plant!

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