Rhaphidophora

Rhaphidophora
Rhaphidophora neglecta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Alismatales
Family:	Araceae
Subfamily:	Monsteroideae
Tribe:	Monstereae
Genus:	Rhaphidophora Hassk.
Synonyms[1]
Raphidophora Hassk. Afrorhaphidophora Engl.

Rhaphidophora is a genus in the family Araceae, occurring from tropical Africa eastwards through Malesia and Australasia to the Western Pacific. The genus consists of approximately 100 species.

Description

This is a genus of evergreen, robust, climbing plants. The flowers are bisexual, lacking a perigone. The spathe is shed after flowering. The ovules number eight or more and are superposed on two (rarely 3) parietal placentas of the ovary. The flowers produce many, ellipsoid, straight seeds with a brittle and smooth outer coat (testa).

These are hemiepiphytes, plants capable of beginning life as a seed and sending roots to the soil, or beginning as a terrestrial plant that climbs a tree and then sends roots back to the soil. In rare cases they are terrestrial rheophytes (plants that grow in fast-flowing water).

Their bast fibers have typically abundant, long and slender trichosclereids, merging with the fibers of the sclerenchyma. If the blade of the leaf is torn, many hairs become apparent. The leaf stalks bend abruptly at their top. The leaf margin is entire. The leaves are pinnatifid to pinnatisect (cut with deep opposite lobing). The leaf venation is parallel (with veins running parallel for the length of the leaf), pinnate (one mid-vein with smaller veins branching off laterally) to reticulate (feather-veined).

Chemistry

Six compounds extracted from the dried leaves and stems of Rhaphidophora decursiva have been shown to possess activity against one malarial parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. Polysyphorin and rhaphidecurperoxin showed the strongest antimalarial activity, while rhaphidecursinol A, rhaphidecursinol B, grandisin, and epigrandisin were less active. Rhaphidecursinol A and rhaphidecursinol B were determined to be neolignans, a major class of phytoestrogens, while rhaphidecurperoxin is a new benzoperoxide.^[2]

Heterotypic synonyms

• Raphidophora Hassk., Tijdschr. Natuurl. Gesch. Physiol. 9: 168 (1842), orth. var.
• Afrorhaphidophora Engl. in H.G.A.Engler & K.A.E.Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam., Nachtr. 3: 31 (1906).

Taxonomy

Research on the chloroplast DNA sequence data (trnL-F) has shown that Rhaphidophora and Epipremnum are paraphyletic, forming three informal groups with other genera of the paraphyletic tribe Monstereae. This may result in taxonomic changes in this genus.^[3] The genera Rhaphidophora, Epipremnum, and Monstera are poorly differentiated.

One cultivar, Rhaphidophora excelsa `Exotica' has been recognized.^[4]

• 
  Rhaphidophora korthalsii
• 
  Raphidophora pertusa
• 
  Rhaphidophora cryptantha
• 
  Raphidorphora decursiva

Species

The following is a list of all 105 species accepted by Plants of the World Online as of 30 March 2024^[update]:^[5]

References

• Boyce, P.C. (1999). "The genus Rhaphidophora Hassk. (Araceae-Monsteroideae-Monstereae) in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore". Singapore Gardens Bulletin. 51: 183–256.
• Boyce, P.C. (2000). "The genus Rhaphidophora Hassk. (Araceae-Monsteroideae-Monstereae) in the southern and western Indonesian archipelago". Singapore Gardens Bulletin. 52: 101–183.
• Boyce, P.C. & Bogner J. (2000). "An account of neotenic species of Rhaphidophora Hassk. (Araceae-Monsteroideae-Monstereae) in New Guinea and Australia". Singapore Gardens Bulletin. 52: 89–100.
• Boyce, P.C. (2000). "The genus Rhaphidophora Hassk. (Araceae-Monsteroideae-Monstereae) in the Philippines". Singapore Gardens Bulletin. 52: 213–256.
• Boyce, P.C. (2001). "The genus Rhaphidophora Hassk. (Araceae-Monsteroideae-Monstereae) in Borneo". Singapore Gardens Bulletin. 53: 19–75.
• Boyce, P.C. (2001). "The genus Rhaphidophora Hassk. (Araceae-Monsteroideae-Monstereae) in New Guinea, Australia and the tropical Western Pacific". Singapore Gardens Bulletin. 53: 77–187.