Philodendron billietiae

not known

billietiae = in honour of Dr. Frieda Billiet, botanist and curator at the Botanical Garden Meise, Brussels, Belgium

hemiepiphytic, climbing in tropical rainforest, from sea level to 200m altitude, often in sparse areas,

Philodendron billietiae was already discovered in 1981 by Frieda Billiet and brought to flower in the Botanical Garden Meise, Brussels, Belgium. During a visit by Tom Croat it was determined that it was a new species, but the deposited herbarium cover of the flower was not sufficient for a diagnosis, as it originated from culture. It took Frieda Billiet another 5 trips to French Guyana to find the plant again. On the 5^th trip together with Tom Croat, more specimens were finally found in flower, and now a description was possible, which Tom Croat published in 1995, 14 years after the species was discovered.
Philodendron billiietiae, with its large and distinctly veined leaves, is one of the showy or spectacular araceae, and is still sought after by many enthusiasts, as it is rarely offered in the trade.