Philodendron fragrantissimum(Hook.) G.Don

shortstem philodendron

WFO wfo-0000268641 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Philodendron fragrantissimum, photographed by fern Wildtruth
fig. a fern Wildtruth, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-03-17 / obs. 183568499
Philodendron fragrantissimum, photographed by Guillaume Delaitre
fig. b Guillaume Delaitre, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 181174860
Philodendron fragrantissimum, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. c Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 66823228
Philodendron fragrantissimum, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. d Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 52799714
Philodendron fragrantissimum, photographed by russiannaturalistbrazil
fig. e russiannaturalistbrazil, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 41080
Philodendron fragrantissimum, photographed by GERMAN LEONEL SARMIENTO CRUZ
fig. f GERMAN LEONEL SARMIENTO CRUZ, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 109653644
Philodendron fragrantissimum, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. g Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 61929819
Philodendron fragrantissimum, photographed by Letizia Weichgrebe
fig. h Letizia Weichgrebe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 52799109

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 19 botanical countries

Regions where Philodendron fragrantissimum is native: Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela BelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SoutheastColombiaCosta RicaCubaEcuadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHondurasNicaraguaPanamáPeruSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela
Native distribution of Philodendron fragrantissimum, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Belize BLZ SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil Southeast BZL
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Ecuador ECU
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Honduras HON
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Peru PER
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 231 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 17.6 °C 22.0 °C 23.7 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 27.3 °C 29.8 °C 32.1 °C
Annual rainfall 1,496 mm 3,111 mm 5,280 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 112 mm 292 mm 717 mm

It is not found anywhere that gets close to freezing. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 231 research-grade observations of Philodendron fragrantissimum that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 9 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Arosma obtusifolia Raf.
  • Caladium fragrantissimum Hook.
  • Philodendron accrescens Simmonds
  • Philodendron brevilaminatum Schott
  • Philodendron clementis Griseb.
  • Philodendron clementis C.Wright
  • Philodendron demerarae Gleason
  • Philodendron latipes K.Koch & Augustin
  • Philodendron poeppigii Schott

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.