Philodendron Gloriosum V Glorious: HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE!

I see this question asked all the time and I actually found myself asking it last week when I picked up this plant in an online auction.

It was listed as a Philodendron Gloriosum and I suspected it was actually a P. Glorious and was sure of this upon arrival.

So what is it really???

Well, it is in face a Philodendron Glorious and I feel just slightly smug… Well I was right. Lol.

Really it wasn’t much of a gamble. Should I have been correct, then I could settle for an extra Gloriosum. I’d suffer thorough it, take one for the team and all that. It is one of my favourite plants after all.

How can you tell the difference?

Well first of all, Gloriosum is terrestrial and Glorious a climber. That was the first give away that my plant was a Glorious.

Then there is the leaf itself. Because Glorious gets half it’s genes from P. Melanochrysum, it’s leaves are narrower and longer than a Gloriosum. The veining of a Glorious is also not as prominent as it is with Gloriosum. Compare both young and mature leaves below.