| Glad you took the "leap" Gary. You're right, the plant is not a viner but it does climb. I have photos on my site of a specimen in Brazil at least 100 feet up a tree and have personally seen many climb. In his scientific paper A Revision of Philodendron Subgenus Meconostigma (Araceae) Dr. Simon Mayo of the Royal Botanic Garden Kew in London describes the species as being hemiepiphitic. A hemiepiphyte (hemi-EPI-fit) is a plant that begins life in the ground and then climbs a supporting tree. Again, in the scientific text The Genera of Araceae by Mayo, Bogner and Boyce when discussing the roots of climbing aroids the text states, "Roots in Araceae are always adventitious and dimorphic roots are often found in climbing hemiepiphytes, e.g. Monstera deliciosa, Philodendron bipinnatifidum." Adventitious roots form from shoot tissues, not from another root while dimorphic indicates the roots grow in two distinct forms. Many growers have been told P. bipinnatifidum as well as other tree Philodendron from the subgenus Meconostigma do not climb trees but that is not scientifically accurate. Meconostigma species are arborescent (tree like) but they cannot perpetually stand on their own. In one internet search I found more than one dozen sites claiming Philodendron bipinnatifidum will not climb including the State of Florida's Floridata At least one Texas garden site included this quote on their site which I suspect they chose to use as a result of one of these articles, "This is one of the few philodendrons that are not climbers. Instead it grows as a woody shrub. It has huge leaves and one stem that does not branch. The branch falls over when the top gets too heavy. Despite the belief Meconostigma don't climb, they do in fact climb to 30 meters or higher (100 plus feet). Their conclusion the plant will fall over when it grows too tall is however entirely correct if the plant does not have a tree to provide support. I brought these errors to the attention of Dr. Mayo who is the leading authority on the Philodendron subgenus Meconostigma. Simon is the author of A Revision of Philodendron Subgenus Meconostigma (Araceae) and his paper is considered the most authoritative in the field. Simon responded, "Yes Philodendron bipinnatifidum certainly does climb but from what I've seen the way it does it is different from Subgenus Philodendron and subgenus Pteromischum species which emit relatively fine anchor roots at or near the nodes. In P. bipinnatifidum and other members of Subgenus Meconostigma the anchor roots are pretty thick and can wrap themselves around small tree stems like ropes. It is almost as if the plant hauls itself into the canopy. I've seen plants suspended between neighboring small trees by these roots. They do have a very adaptable kind of growth habit, which I suppose goes along with their natural ecology, preferring rather higher light intensity situations than "normal" Philodendrons." As a result, any information on garden websites claiming Philodendron subgenus Meconostigma species do not climb does not match the observations of more than a few qualified botanists. This is just another of the numerous aroid myths found on the internet but I'm still trying to figure out where the "myth" originated. If anyone knows of a book or magazine that states the claim this species won't climb I'd love to know the source.
| 
