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Taxonomy: Amydrium is a genus of the Old World tropics, and it is placed in the tribe Monstereae. In the past, the tribe was assigned to the subfamily Pothoideae (Grayum, 1990), but Bogner and Nicholson (1991) moved the genus into the subfamily Monsteroideae. Mayo et al. (1997) maintained this classification in their more recent work.
Nguyen and Boyce (In Press) described the genus as follows:
Small to medium-sized, occasionally very large, root-climbing lianes (sensu Schimper, 1903) or creeping to scandent herbs, most but not all species producing long (foliage-) leafless flagelliform foraging shoots; trichosclereids sparsely present in vegetative parts (only petiole and sheath vide Seubert, 1996), more abundant in style (vide Carvell, 1989). Leaves: foliage leaves often remote from one another, interspersed with few to rather many cataphyll-bearing nodes; petiole geniculate apically and basally, sheath very short (barely exceeding basal geniculum) to usually less than half as long as petiole, occasionally reaching apical geniculum, rarely ligulate and exceeding it; lamina ovate-cordate to lanceolate or pandurate-trilobed or pinnatifid to pinnatisect, sometimes with ± numerous round to oval perforations; primary lateral veins pinnate, running into marginal vein, higher order venation reticulate. Inflorescence 1- several in each floral sympodium, terminal on shoot but often displaced by sympodial branching and, in fruit, appearing lateral on stem; peduncle erect, subequal or half as long as petiole; spathe conchiform to ovate or canoe-shaped, apiculate, often thick-textures, sometimes reflexed at anthesis and then deciduous; spadix sessile to long-stipitate, sometimes very short. Flowers bisexual, aperigoniate. Stamens 4 - 6, free, filaments short, broadly linear, anthers equalling or shorter than filaments, thecae ovoid, extrorse, dehiscing by a longitudinal slit. Pollen fully zonate, hamburger-shaped, medium-sized (mean 39 µm., range 38 - 41 µm.), exine either densely and minutely punctate in one half and virtually psilate in the other, or uniformly foveolate-fossulate, apertural exine psilate or obscurely verrucate (pollen details from Grayum, 1984, 1992). Gynoecium obpyramidal or obconoid, tetragonal, ovary 1-locular, ovules 2, funicle anatropous, short, placenta situated near the base of a deeply intrusive septum, stylar region broader than ovary, slightly prominent centrally below stigma, otherwise ± truncate, stigma small, hemispheric to longitudinally elongate. Infructescence comprised of numerous medium to large berries; fruits subglobose, truncate to domed at apex, white (A. medium, A. humile) or orange-red (A. zippelianum, A. sinense) when ripe; stylar region not abscising (q.v. Epipremnum, Boyce, 1998). Seed subglobose to heart-shaped, testa smooth, glossy, embryo curved and partly green, endosperm present (vide Seubert, 1993). Chromosomes 2n = 60.
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Distribution & Habitat: Amydrium is a small genus of about 4 - 6 species. The distribution is tropical southeast Asia and the Malay Archipelago. Species are found in the humid tropical forest climbing on trees as hemi-epiphytes or creeping on the forest floor (Mayo et al., 1997).
Cultivation: The species of this genus, except for one, are not commonly found in cultivation. Only Epiprenopsis media (Amydrium medium) is mentioned in The New York Botanical Garden Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horticulture (Everett, 1981a). This species is cultivated the same as Monstera and Philodendron. "...A fertile, fairly loose soil that contains an abundance of organic matter, drains freely, and is kept moist, but not waterlogged" is recommended. Propagation is by cuttings and air-layers (Everett, 1981b).
 | This web page was compiled by Dr. Paul M. Resslar, Professor of Biology, Virginia Wesleyan College, Norfolk, Virginia. It is based largely on the work of Dr. Peter C. Boyce of the Royal Botanic Garden Kew and was last revised on 25 November 2000. Please send me comments or questions about this page. |