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Description
philodendron basil Philodendron rugosum – Thick, Bullate 'Pig Skin' LeavesPhilodendron rugosum Bogner and G. S. Bunting rare leathery leaf aroid from Ecuador Philodendron rugosum, known as the Pigskin Philodendron, is a hemiepiphytic climber native to Ecuadors humid premontane forests. Described in 1977 by Josef Bogner and George Bunting, it is valued for its thick, textured, heart shaped foliage and its steady vertical growth on textured supports. Classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN, it is a plant of both ornamental
Philodendron rugosum Bogner and G.S. Bunting – rare leathery-leaf aroid from Ecuador
Philodendron rugosum, known as the “Pigskin Philodendron,” is a hemiepiphytic climber native to Ecuador’s humid premontane forests. Described in 1977 by Josef Bogner and George Bunting, it is valued for its thick, textured, heart-shaped foliage and its steady vertical growth on textured supports. Classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN, it is a plant of both ornamental and conservation interest.
Standout features of Philodendron rugosum
- Signature texture: Deeply coriaceous blades with a grainy “pigskin” surface and pronounced primary venation.
- Leaf form: Juvenile leaves are smoother and rounder; mature foliage develops heavier texture and a firmer cuticle.
- Growth habit: Appressed climbing with short internodes on a moss or fibre pole produces larger leaves and better surface quality.
- Collector status: Rare in cultivation, sought after for its tactile foliage and compact yet architectural habit.
Native range and ecology
- Distribution: Endemic to Ecuador, primarily in Pastaza province and neighbouring areas.
- Elevation: 800 – 1 200 m in premontane wet forest.
- Microhabitat: Shaded, humid slopes and stream margins with organic-rich soils and high year-round moisture.
- Associated flora: Grows among mosses, epiphytes, and tree ferns in the lower canopy and understory.
Leaf development and anatomy
The species epithet rugosum refers to the wrinkled, textured surface created by bullate lamina and a thick cuticle. Juvenile foliage is softer and less textured; as the plant matures, blades become more rigid, surface texture deepens, and venation stands out more clearly.
Care guide – replicating its natural habitat
- Light: Bright, indirect light maintains compact nodes and leaf integrity; avoid harsh direct sun.
- Water: Water when the top 2 – 3 cm of substrate are dry; fully saturate, then drain.
- Humidity: Prefers 60 – 75% RH; 70%+ enhances texture and reduces leaf-edge browning.
- Temperature: Ideal 18 – 27 °C; protect from drafts and avoid rapid fluctuations.
- Substrate: Airy aroid mix (~35% fine orchid bark, 25% coco coir, 20% perlite/pumice, 10% compost, 10% horticultural charcoal).
- Feeding: Balanced liquid fertiliser at 25 – 50% label rate every 4 – 6 weeks in active growth; adjust to growth speed.
- Support: Secure stems to a moss or fibre pole at each node to encourage appressed climbing and larger foliage.
Propagation and alternative culture
- Stem cuttings: Use one-node cuttings; root in moist sphagnum or an airy substrate before potting up.
- Semi-hydro: Adaptable if transitioned gradually; maintain nutrient balance and root oxygenation.
- Pruning: Remove leggy or damaged growth to maintain form and encourage branching.
Common problems and solutions
- Yellow leaves: Usually overwatering or compacted media; refresh substrate and adjust watering rhythm.
- Browning tips: Low humidity or irregular moisture; raise RH and stabilise watering.
- Leaf curl: Underwatering or excess heat/light; check moisture and move to filtered light.
- Slow growth: Increase bright, indirect light and keep feeding consistent.
- Pests: Monitor for spider mites, thrips, and mealybugs; treat early with targeted controls.
Inflorescence description
Produces a cream to green spathe with a pale green spadix. Flowering is uncommon indoors and mainly of botanical interest; the plant is grown primarily for foliage.
Conservation status and background
Listed as Near Threatened due to habitat destruction in its native range. The combination of unique texture and conservation value makes Philodendron rugosum both a horticultural prize and a reminder of the importance of preserving Andean foothill forests.
Order Philodendron rugosum
Add Philodendron rugosum to your collection for its rare texture and bold vertical habit. With bright filtered light, high humidity, and a textured support, it rewards careful growers with rugged, unforgettable foliage.
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4.1 ★★★★★
Based on 7 reviews
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Product Reviews
★★★★★ 5
Quality Book
Format: Paperback
Quality book.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2019
★★★★★ 5
There is a war... for your Mind!
Format: Kindle
"There is a war... for your Mind!"
That's the slogan of InfoWars, the incendiary conspiracy news network and nutritional supplement marketing firm. And while Alex Jones is wrong about almost everything, he's right about that. In LikeWar Singer and Brooking ably synthesize a sophisticated picture of information warfare in 2018, drawing from sources as diverse as Taylor Swift, Donald Trump, and ISIS, to argue that the internet has lead to a blurring of lines between consumer, citizen, journalist, activist, and warrior which threatens the foundations of liberal democracy. The tech companies which built these platforms and profited from them must grapple with the politics of their technologies, before we all reap the whirlwind.
Computer networks and smart phones connect billions of people, allowing ideas to flow faster than ever before in history. Sometimes, the results can be impressive. The Chiapas Zapatista movement in 1994 was a dial-up and fax version of a network insurgency that managed to bring enough international opprobrium on Mexico that the government blinked, and reached some kind of political accord (Chiapas is complicated). More recently, Eliot Higgins and a team of open source analysts at Bellingcat managed to track down the exact BUK missile system and Russian soldiers responsible for shooting down MH 17 in 2014.
But there are a lot of dark sides. When people connect, the emotion that spreads most rapidly is anger. Lies spread five times faster than truth. Musicians can use social networks to directly connect with their fans, and ISIS uses it to connect with alienated Muslim youths worldwide. Social networks sort diverse citizens into filter bubbles of people who think alike. Eliot Higgin's careful open source intelligence has a paranoid fun-house mirror version in the QAnon conspiracy, where Qultist decoders find hidden messages from an alleged 'senior white house source'.
And then there is the matter of information war, an area that even now, after years of offensive cyber operations, liberal democracies still don't understand. Hostile propaganda slips into Western news networks and major platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are infested with bots. LikeWar can even take a personal toll. Over the course of writing this book, General Michael Flynn went from forward looking full-spectrum commander to head Trumpist conspiracy cheerleader to indicted and plead out felon. Flynn's fall is complex, but it can't be separated from the internet. If the trolls got him, what chance does your idiot cousin stand? The counters, 'citizen truth teams' and senior emissaries to groups vulnerable to recruitment, seem like thin reeds against the coming maelstrom of noise.
LikeWar starts with Clausewitz's dictum that war is a continuation of politics by other means, and there are clear links between cyberspace and physical space. Intensity of hashtags impacted the subsequent intensity of Israeli airstrikes during attacks on the Gaza strip. ISIS used propaganda to create an aura of invincibility that outflanked the defenders of Mosul, while Russia denied that its 'little green men' were even in Ukraine. But the difference is that cyberspace is constructed space rather than natural space. The networks are built, maintained, and owned by real corporations and real people. The internet grew from an anarchic specialized scientific network to a major engine of commerce and communicate with little deliberate government oversight. Section 230 absolved American companies of responsibility for policing content, with major carve outs for copyrighted IP and pornography. Yet as concerns over cyberbullying and counter-terrorism rose, major networks adopted digital constitutions that were permissive towards speech and censorious towards erotica. Policing content is and was possible, but always took a back seat to growth and engagement, the guide stars of Silicon Valley.
The future is if anything, darker. Advances in machine learning and AI allow ever more realistic bots, computer generated DeepFakes where a politician can be programmed to say anything, and personalized targeting of people with exactly the propaganda they'll believe. There are defensive counters, but if I might draw military analogies, what we saw in 2016 was armored warfare circa 1918: clearly the future, but not yet a mature system. Given the pace of technology, we only have a few years before digital blitzkrieg.
I'm extremely online, and I've been following this space for years. I've presented at multiple conferences on this topic, including Governance of Emerging Technologies and Association of Internet Researchers. LikeWar is the book I wish I'd written. Cognizant, forward looking, and deeply researched, it is vital reading for anyone interested in technology or politics.
My only reservation is that I wish the sources were better linked in the text, instead of being buried in static endnotes. Maybe the next edition will push an update.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2018
★★★★★ 5
Making Sense of the Tactics Deployed in the Social Media War
Format: Hardcover
Singer and Brooking’s book, pulls together in one place the various threads of information about cyberthreats from the last few years, weaving them into a coherent, memorable, and understandable(!) whole. All these authors provide exhaustive lists of sources. It’s incumbent on responsible people to understand the tactics of information warfare, because, “[recent Senate hearings] showed that our leaders had little grasp on the greatest existential threat to American democracy,” said Leigh Giangreco in the Washington Post.
These ill-intentioned manipulators understand the human brain is hard-wired for certain reactions: to believe in conspiracy theories (“Obama isn’t an American”); to be gratified when we receive approval (“likes”!); to be drawn to views we agree with (“confirmation bias”). If we feel compelled to weigh in on some bit of propaganda or false information, social media algorithms see this attention and elevate the issue—“trending!”—so that our complaints only add to the virality of disinformation and lies. “Just as the internet has reshaped war, war is now radically reshaping the internet,” the authors say.
Contrary to the optimism of the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who saw social media as a positive, democratizing force, this new technology is being used to destructive effect at many levels of society. At a local scale, for example, it bolsters gang violence in Chicago; at a national scale, it contributed to the election of fringe politicians; at a regional scale, it facilitated the emergence of ISIS; and at an international scale, it undergirds the reemergence of repressive political movements in many countries.
How to be a responsible citizen in this chaos? Like it or not, “we’re all part of this war,” the authors say, “and which side succeeds depends in large part on how much the rest of us learn to recognize this new warfare for what it is” and how ready we are for what comes next.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2019
★★★★★ 4
A Must-Read for the Internet Age (Even If It’s a Little Terrifying)
Format: Kindle
If you’ve ever found yourself doomscrolling through Twitter (sorry, X—ugh), arguing with a stranger in the comments section, or wondering why that ridiculous meme is suddenly everywhere, LikeWar is the book that explains why. And let me tell you, it does so in a way that’s as entertaining as it is unnerving.
P.W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking take a deep dive into the battlefield of social media, where wars aren’t just fought with bullets but with hashtags, viral videos, and AI bots pretending to be real people (or worse, real people pretending to be bots). They connect dots between everything from military psy-ops to online disinformation campaigns, showing how social media has become the new frontline of modern warfare.
The book is packed with fascinating stories—from ISIS using social media to recruit followers like an influencer pushing protein powder, to political campaigns that make you question reality itself. And while the subject matter is serious, the authors keep things engaging with sharp writing, eye-opening insights, and just enough humor to keep you from spiraling into existential dread.
So why four stars instead of five? Well, while LikeWar is undeniably eye-opening, it occasionally gets a little too caught up in explaining things at length. Some sections feel a bit stretched, like that one friend who insists on telling a story with every single detail included. A tighter edit in some places might have made it even stronger.
That said, this book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how the internet shapes the real world—whether you’re a journalist, a policymaker, or just someone trying to figure out why your uncle keeps sharing weird conspiracy theories on Facebook. It’s insightful, timely, and slightly terrifying, but in the best way possible.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2025
★★★★★ 5
A Must Read That Belongs on Every Political, Social, or Military Strategist's Shelf
Format: Hardcover
LikeWar is the manual for warfare in the 21st century, a worthy successor to Singer's Ghost Fleet, and excellent debut work for Brooking. It belongs on the shelf of anyone who wants to seriously understand how war will be fought and social policy developed in the era of Facebook and Twitter.
There is a particularly urgent need for this book at a time when most tacticians have their eyes firmly fixed on enhancing cybersecurity through the protection of systems and hardware. While this is undeniably important, LikeWar reminds us that the information that is transmitted over that infrastructure is no less, and possibly quite a bit more important than the infrastructure itself. This message has never been more urgent than today when democratic nations struggle with balancing the need for an open civil society against the risks of foreign subversion and influence. This is the next great battle. It will be fought in the trenches of Facebook and the swamps of Twitter - wise commanders will bring LikeWar with them as field guide.
LikeWar stands out for its incredible scope and accessibility. Its coverage is comprehensive - everything from the 2016 election to the IDF's influence tactics are explored, analyzed, and fit into a comprehensive thesis about the changing face of war. Read LikeWar and you will have a confident grasp of the major developments in this new theater of combat. Yet the book remains eminently readable - this combat guide does not require a reader to slog through the bone-dry prose of a TRADOC manual or an academic paper. It is quick and engaging yet thorough at the same time.
In short, Singer and Brooking have written a manual for combat in the new millennium that is both engaging and substantial enough to leave their reader a master of the new face of battle.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2018