Philodendron

Recently I wrote a posting about how Matisse had a large number of Philodendrons and used them as a motif in his work during the later years of his life.

I wrote about my photograph of a Philodendron elegans leaf, or at least part of it. In the illustration above, it is the top right hand corner illustration. Elegans is now quite rare, seemingly having fallen out of fashion as plants do. It's a pity because, currently at least, it is one of my favourite Philodendrons.

According to the Shorter Oxford, the word is from the Greek philo, to love, and dendron, trees, referring to its fondness for climbing trees when given the opportunity.