Scindapsus pictus Hassk. – of Sarawak/Borneo – around 1000m ASL.

Scindapsus pictus (Araceae) was first described in 1842 in the Tijdschrift voor Natuurlijke Geschiedenis en Physiologie (volume/issue ‘ix’, p. 164); the author abbreviation ‘Hassk.’ stands for the botanist Justus Carl Hasskarl. Its native range includes Bangladesh, Borneo, Java, Malaya, the Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatra and Thailand, where it is described as a climbing plant of the humid tropics. In its natural habitat, it climbs tree trunks, with rootlets supporting the shoots; it is described as a tropical, evergreen climbing plant with dark green, silvery variegated foliage. Inflorescences are described as cylindrical, white spikes (spadix, approx. 3–6 cm) enveloped by a whitish, flesh-coloured spathe (approx. 5–7 cm); the fruit is a dark green, single-seeded berry; pollination is carried out by insects and the fruit is presumably dispersed by birds.

Etymologically, the genus name Scindapsus is derived from the Greek word “skindapsos” (with several interpretations in the literature, including “on tree trunks”), while the species epithet pictus comes from Latin and means “painted/coloured”.