Thaumatophyllum bipinnatifidum

A mouthful

I love this plant’s name. It’s like your tongue is on a rollercoaster every time you have to say it. Let’s break it down, shall we? Thaumatophyllum comes from the Greek words 'thaûma', meaning "miracle" and 'phyllon' meaning "a leaf”, so something like “miracle leaf.” And bipinnatifidum combines the words 'bi', meaning "twice" or "double", "pinnae" meaning "feather,” and 'findus', meaning "to split” into something like “split into double feathers.” Although it’s a little unwieldy, the name does do its job of describing the leaf. You may have also heard this plant called a tree philodendron or a Philodendron selloum. DNA analysis has has put it solidly in its own genus, as opposed to the Philodendron genus, however.

Native to Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, and Paraguay, T. bipinnatifidum is a hemiepiphyte. These are plants that use other plants as support, but still have their roots in the soil. We talked about it a little in the Monstera deliciosa post. These plants will start life either on the forest floor or as sprouts growing in the bark of other trees, and then climb up, or send roots down. Either way, they always have their roots in the ground. True epiphytes, like orchids or air plants, use their roots to grasp a support tree, but are never rooted in soil. We’ll definitely talk more about orchids and air plants in later posts, so you know, stay rooted.

Probably the most interesting thing about T. bipinnatifidum is its reproduction. Like all of its cousins in the Arum family, T. bipinnatifidum produces a spadix, but this spadix does some really unique things. First let’s look at its structure. In the picture below you can see that the female flowers are clustered at the bottom of the spadix, they would typically be shielded by the spathe, but it has been removed for easier viewing. Above the female flowers are sterile male flowers, with the fertile male flowers above that.

Olena Shmahalo/Quanta Magazine; Cassia Sakuragui, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

The sterile male flowers in the center are the interesting ones as they have two main functions. One is to act as a buffer between the female flowers and the fertile male flowers, this helps keep the plant from self pollinating. The second function is the totally bonkers one, they burn fat to give off heat. This is incredibly rare in plants and according to the University of Maine they can get up to as hot as 100ºF. As the flowers heat up they warm and release chemicals that attract T. bipinnatifidum’s chief pollinator, nocturnal beetles from the Cyclocephala genus. Ideally the beetles will have already visited another spadix and be carrying pollen on their legs when they enter the spathe and will pollinate the female flowers at the bottom of the spadix. During the night they will also eat a little pollen from the male flowers, getting a good dusting on their legs in the process. They will rest inside the warm flower the following day and then take flight during the night, heading off to another warm flower to pollinate and feed.

Pretty freaking cool.

As a house plant, T. Bipinnatifidum can be tricky. They’re prone to thrips and need a lot of light. They’re also huge. Mine is still recovering from the move from my last apartment, where it had more light and space. But we’ll get there. It will likely never flower indoors which is a huge bummer since I’d really love to touch a hot spadix (yeah that sounds weird, but I stand by it). I keep mine pretty wet, watering when the top of the soil is dry. I’ve also just started with a houseplant fertilizer since it doesn’t seem to like being under grow lights as much as it did the natural light, so we’ll see how that goes.

That’s about it! See you next time. And don’t forget to check out the 100% Plant Based Horror publishing schedule below.

This month’s plant will serve as inspiration for the paid posts in my 100% Plant-Based Horror sections. Here’s the break down, in case you’re new and/or curious.

First week of the month - The Lab (that’s this post!) - Free for everyone

Second week of the month - The Witch Lab (a short, spooky piece from a plant witch’s journal detailing one of her experiences helping a client with the featured plant) - Paid subscribers only

Third week of the month - The Spell Book (an entry from The Witch’s spell book detailing how she uses this plant for her dark magic) - Paid subscribers only

Fourth week of the month - 100% Plant-Based Horror story featuring the month’s plant. These are longer stories that include everything from ghosts, to parasites, aliens, experimental supplements, and more! - Paid subscribers only