Philodendron giganteum
A very large climbing Philodendron from the Caribbean islands, called elephant ear or chinny leaf locally, with thick waxy leaves that grow huge once it has climbed a tree. Its inflorescences heat up and give off a sweet scent at flowering. It comes from moist and cloud forest on the hills of Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles, and needs space, a sturdy support, warmth and humidity.
Where it grows wild
Herbarium and observation notes describe it climbing large trees in shaded, humid forest. The forest types include moist hillside forest, disturbed rainforest on steep andesite slopes, gallery forest, dry evergreen forest along stream beds, and low cloud forest on rocks. Young plants start in shade near the ground and climb toward brighter light, where the leaves get much bigger.
GBIF elevations mostly run from about 80 to 630 m, with a median near 350 m, on the wet hillsides of volcanic islands. A few records come from cloud forest near summits.
🔒 Growing it like that
The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:
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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY 2.5 licence, unmodified.