Species
+

Philodendron hederaceum (Jacq.) Schott

Vilevine, ak'al-k'umché, heart-leaf philodendron, heart-leaf philodendron

Climate known 67 photographs Tropical foliage plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Philodendron hederaceum, the heartleaf philodendron is a species of flowering plant in the family Araceae, native to Central America and the Caribbean which is common in the houseplant trade. Philodendron hederaceum var. hederaceum, the "velvet philodendron," is a subspecies which is in the houseplant trade under its previous name of Philodendron micans. While toxic under certain conditions, it is also under current review for numerous health benefits.

Text from Wikipedia, “Philodendron hederaceum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Philodendron

Philodendron is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. As of September 2025, the Plants of the World Online accepted 625 species; other sources accept different numbers. Regardless of number of species, the genus is the second-largest member of the family Araceae, after genus Anthurium. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Philodendron”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Araceae
Described by
(Jacq.) Schott
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +28
Wild records
1314 in range· 676 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Apr, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
2281mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 278 mm (CHELSA)
Light
28–36DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Philodendron, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.7 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 2281 mm a year, wettest September at 278 mm, driest February at 84 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 36 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 17.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Arum hederaceum Jacq.; Pothos hederaceus (Jacq.) Aubl.

Cultivation

Grouped as a tropical foliage plant by the genus Philodendron, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.7 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1740 mm of 2281 mm) falls in May to November. The temperature curve is flat, 1.7 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 2281 mm a year, wettest September at 278 mm, driest February at 84 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

2281 mm a year at the habitat, 1740 mm of it May to November. Wettest month September at 278 mm, driest February at 84 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1356 mm to 4092 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 36 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 17.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 17.0 °C, the absolute minimum 14.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 20.3 °C in January (across the envelope cells 14.9 °C to 23.5 °C), warmest day 28.3 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 17.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER); the archetype table's minimum for a tropical foliage plant, 12 °C, is lower and does not raise it.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 64 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 27 °C in Dec to 28 °C in Apr; mean night from 20 °C in Jan to 22 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 2281 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 915 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 14.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 36.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°36.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)14.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 28–36RH 64–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 915 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 23–3027 / 24–3128 / 25–3128 / 25–3228 / 24–3128 / 23–3028 / 23–3028 / 24–3028 / 24–3027 / 24–3027 / 24–2927 / 23–29
Night °C20 / 15–2420 / 15–2421 / 16–2422 / 17–2422 / 16–2522 / 16–2522 / 15–2422 / 16–2422 / 16–2422 / 16–2421 / 17–2421 / 16–24
Rain mm99 / 21–31684 / 15–25685 / 18–258119 / 37–339204 / 83–458277 / 84–492260 / 76–483267 / 67–477278 / 86–486256 / 112–476198 / 53–427154 / 30–344
DLI31 / 24–3633 / 28–3836 / 30–4136 / 28–4331 / 24–4130 / 23–3831 / 23–3932 / 26–3931 / 27–3730 / 25–3528 / 24–3528 / 23–35
RH %66 / 57–7164 / 56–7064 / 57–7065 / 58–7067 / 61–7268 / 63–7368 / 62–7367 / 62–7368 / 62–7368 / 63–7468 / 62–7367 / 60–72

Each figure is the median across the 915 grid cells holding the 1269 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1552:1895 (12.375, -85.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 14.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 17.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 915 distinct grid cells holding the 1269 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1552:1895 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 12.50_-85.000, lapse-corrected +96 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 372 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, C. American Pacific Is., El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., Surinam, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South· introduced: Seychelles, Bangladesh
Kew's description“epiphyte” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker9.15, -79.85 · in the densest population, 466 records (35% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1314 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 676 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 683 km away. 212 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 45 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1314 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Philodendron hederaceumPhilodendron hederaceumPhilodendron hederaceumPhilodendron hederaceumPhilodendron hederaceumPhilodendron hederaceumPhilodendron hederaceumPhilodendron hederaceum

Photographs: (c) Alison Guerra, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) B. Phalan, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Kyle Van Houtan, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Carlos Domínguez-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Philodendron hederaceum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Sustainable agriculture with LEAFS: a low-cost electrochemical analyzer of foliage stress
Sina Khazaee Nejad, Haozheng Ma, Abdulrahman Al‐Shami, Ali Soleimani (2024) · Sensors & Diagnostics
Removal of Volatile Organic Compounds by Means of a Felt-Based Living Wall Using Different Plant Species
Gina Patricia Suárez‐Cáceres, Luis Pérez‐Urrestarazu (2021) · Sustainability
Reducing CO2 level in the indoor urban built environment: Analysing indoor plants under different light levels
Nilanka Harshani Weerasinghe, Pasindu Kavishna Silva, Rohantha Jayasinghe, Wasudha Prabodhani Abeyrathna (2023) · Cleaner Engineering and Technology
The complete chloroplast genome of Philodendron hederaceum (Jacq.) Schott 1829 (Alismatales: Araceae)
Gyoungju Nah, Ji Ran Jeong, Jae Hwan Lee, Soon Yil Soh (2024) · Mitochondrial DNA Part B
Laporan Pertama Philodendron hederaceum (Jacq.) Schott ternaturalisasi di Sumatra, Indonesia
Arifin Surya Dwipa Irsyam, Muhammad Rifqi Hariri, Arieh Mountara, Rina Ratnasih Irwanto (2021) · BIOLOGICA SAMUDRA
APLIKASI PHYTOMINING DENGAN PENDEKATAN TUMBUHAN-MIKROBA UNTUK REMEDIASI LIMBAH REDMUD
Faiza Salsabilla, Bieby Voijant Tangahu, Muhammad Akmal, Farras Arafi (2025) · Jurnal Purifikasi
Efektivitas Media Tanam PUKCAPEDIA Terhadap Pertumbuhan Tanaman Hias Sirih Brazil (Philodendron Hederaceum Brasil)
Risma Herliana, Cartono Cartono, Ida Yayu Nurul Hizqiyah (2023) · Biofarm Jurnal Ilmiah Pertanian
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Philodendron 5 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 117 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.