And if so, how come we never see them? Are they one of those weird plants that only blooms every hundred years, or are the conditions inside people’s houses just not right?
Observe the snow. It fornicates.
philodendron is a huge family of plants, some of which grow to tree size. iirc, i’ve had some of the larger ones flower outside; but the little sort-of-vine (a ground cover really rather than a true vine) is probably not in the right conditions to flower.
actually, it’s also a philosophical question. there are many plants that propagate by underground runners or rerooting on top of the ground (the one you are growing inside). since older parts of the plant don’t die off (except maybe in severe drought), some folks have wondered if we might be able to call them immortal plants.
My gardening book list philodendron of the type grown for foliage as opposed to flowering plants. It mentions that some foliage plants do flower, but doesn’t mention philodendrons as one of them. They propagate by re-rooting cuttings, so the vine itself can start a new plant without the need for flowers or seeds.
For the vining type, which is what you probably have, my gardening book says heat, light, and humidity must be high in order for them to flower. In other words, your house needs to be like the edge of a rain forest, or at least like the tropics. The flowers are actually on the club shaped structure that is surrounded by a greenish, reddish, or white bract. Basically, it will look like a Calla Lilly. Callas and Philodendrons are both in the Aroid family (Callas, Skunk Cabbage, Anthuriums, etc).
It’s worth the risk of burning, to have a second chance…
except, doob, i don’t believe it is a true vine, like ivy is. philos have no suckers nor do they naturally twine. when you grow them indoors on something like a peat post, you generally have to continue to pin or otherwise attach them to the post just as the florist did who potted the plant.
however, you may see little knobs form on the underside of the stem. if the knobs touch moist ground (like when they grow outside), they will re-root at that point. so will pothos, which looks a great deal like philos.
in fact, phils will tend to lose older leaves if they are in too dry an atmosphere. what you can do is dig around and loosen the dirt in the pot, bury the leafless parts of the stem, add a bit more soil, & in a couple weeks you will see new shoots at that point. a lot of people will try to root cuttings in water, but this way is much easier because you don’t have to acclimate the new roots from all water to soil.
Special: I know they are not true vines. “Vining type” is used because it distinguishes them from the woody self supporting types. The plant encyclopedia where I got the info said they arent vines, and you have to pin them to something as you said.
It’s worth the risk of burning, to have a second chance…
Doobius is right on. The philodenderons in my yard flower about once every two years.
Some of them have very strong pleasant odors, some have huge bracts, some both, some neither.
My favorite has a bloom that smells like fresh pinapple. I cant for the life of me recall it’s name though… Maybe Jophiel can pull it off the top of his head.
Work, work, work…
Although houseplants/tropicals aren’t really my forté, I can tell you that they do flower. From what I understand, the colors range anywhere from red to purple to white, green and cream colors. The flowers typically grow on bracts resembling the spathe of a calla lily.
Other than that, I’m not too sure. There’s literally hundreds of types of philodendron out there and under houseplant conditions, I don’t imagine they flower very often. Try hiking on down to the Amazon (the river, not the dot-com) and you can see them for yourself.
“I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
There is a philodendron relative that is common in nurseries in North American, called Monstera deliciosa (AKA Swiss Cheese Plant). The leaves have holes in them, and it forms a woody trunk. Anyway, the interesting bit about Monstera is it can form fruit. However, the fruit has to be fully ripe, or it’s a very unpleasant experience.
Aroids as a group tend to rely a lot on smell from ther flowers to ensure polination. Most smell of rotting meat (like the massive Amorphophallus titanum) to attract flies and beetles. I suspect a pineapple scented aroid would be wonderful, rather than a stinky one :).
It’s worth the risk of burning, to have a second chance…
I think Doob’s just trying to show me up now. Bastard, I said houseplants aren’t my forté.
Someone ask me about spirea japonica or something else easy.
“I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
Jophiel: well if you weren’t so lacking in your houseplant skillz then i wouldn’t have to show off :). Hehe
It’s worth the risk of burning, to have a second chance…
Hello all. I was actually browsing around the net this morning to see if I could find out anything about flowering/blooming philodendrons, because for the first time in my 43 years, I’m seeing one bloom (4 in total) with lovely little clusters (around 3" in diameter) of white star-shaped flowers, red-orange in the center, with a tiny dot of yellow inside that! 
They start out as a little upside down dark brown tiny grape pod type thing, and over a couple of weeks get bigger, and change to a salmon pink color round bud. Each little flower seems to develop and mature on its own, and they are long lasting! I also make sure I water well during this time. I’ve seen many different varieties of phils, but not one ever produced any kind of flower, which led me to believe they were just a vining/greenery plant. This one was actually left behind by the previous owner when I bought my house. It’s just a dark green with a few tiny spots of white speckled throughout, and vining nicely. I just wanted to let you all know what was out there. I was sure pleasantly surprised!
Well, after sixteen years I have no memory of what prompted me to ask the question, but I’m pleased that someone felt moved to answer
Fretful’s Fret “Do Philodendrons Flower” Faithfully Revivified; Life’s Fitful Fever Finished?