This discussion was going around in 2009. 'Ring of Fire' came into the market AS 'Ring of Fire' via a PA nursery called Asiatica which was known to make up creative names for plants. They gave it the name 'Ring of Fire' and apparently it stuck. It is believed to be a hybrid which was made by a gentleman named Keith Henderson. He used Philodendron tortum ( kind of rare and expensive nowadays) as the pollen parent and Philodendron wendlandii (ditto the expense) as the ovule parent. It was originally called Henderson's Pride. What I am not certain of is whether Henderson ever patented the plant under that name, and if he didn't, its likely it got one-upped from him and when renamed Ring of Fire that name stuck . For stuff like this, its my understanding that if you have something unique and unusual and don't patent it, and it gets introduced on a more widely spread basis, even if you are the one who crossed it, someone else can patent it.
