Philodendron hederaceum
Probably the most widespread Philodendron and perhaps the most widespread neotropical aroid, a hemiepiphytic vine ranging from eastern Mexico and the Antilles to Bolivia and southern Brazil. It lives mostly in lowland tropical moist forest with a real but mild dry season, which is why it tolerates ordinary home conditions so well. The glossy houseplant is var. oxycardium (Mexico to Honduras); the velvety-juvenile 'micans' type is var. hederaceum.
Where it grows wild
A hemiepiphytic vine whose stems climb appressed to tree trunks, then become scandent and often hang in long pendent curtains; internodes are long and juvenile leaves small and heart-shaped. It occurs principally in tropical moist forest, extending into premontane wet and tropical wet forest, and grows in both primary and secondary forest on both slopes of the Central American divide.
Mostly lowland: sea level to about 450 m (rarely 900 m) in Central America and Panama, reaching 1200-1500 m in Mexico. Measured wild records span roughly sea level to 1750 m, median about 210 m.
🔒 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-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.