Anthurium diversicaudex Croat

CATE Araceae, 17 Dec 2011. araceae.e-monocot.org

Distribution

Anthurium diversicaudex is currently assumed to be endemic to Ecuador since it is known only from the Lita-San Lorenzo region at 350-822 m elevation.

General Description

Terrestrial or hemiepiphytic; internodes (2-)10--16(-25) cm long, 8-12(-27) mm diam., dark olive-green and semi-glossy, turning grayish to gray-brown, epidermis thin, exposing dark green stem, semiglossy; cataphylls 12-14 cm long, dark green and glossy, the fibers pale, briefly persistent intact at upper nodes, finally as straight, appressed fibers then deciduous; petioles 45-62 cm long (averaging 52.8 cm), subterete obtusely flattened to bluntly C-shaped, weakly, narrowly and obtusely sulcate adaxially, semiglossy to moderately glossy, dark to medium green, drying dark brown; blades ovate-sagittate, 41-56 cm long, 23-32 cm wide, 1.5-2.0 times longer than wide, .74-1.23 times as long as petioles, subcoriaceous, dark green and glossy to semiglossy above, moderately to much paler and weakly glossy to glossy below, drying dark blackish brown (rarely grayish green) and semiglossy above, medium blackish brown or rarely yellowish brown below, gradually to abruptly acuminate at apex, deeply lobed at base; anterior lobe 29-37 cm long, margins straight to convex; posterior lobes 14-18 cm long, 10-12 cm wide, directed toward the base; basal veins 6-8 pairs, the 1st and sometimes 2nd free to the base, the 4th and higher order coalesced 3.5-4.5 cm; posterior rib naked along the sinus 2-4.5 cm; sinus spathulate to narrowly hippocrepiform, 12-14 cm long, 3.5-6 cm wide; midrib slightly paler than surface, convex at base, bluntly acute to narrowly raised toward the apex and concolorous above, bluntly acute to convex or round-raised and concolorous to paler below, drying concolorous and acute above, darker and narrowly raise below; primary lateral veins 7-9 on both sides, arising at 40-45° angle, narrowly acute to narrowly raised and concolorous on both surfaces, sometimes in valleys above, sometimes pleated-raised below; tertiary veins flat, darker than surface, in part weakly raised, prominulous on drying; collective veins, arising from one of the lowermost basal veins, 2-5(-7) mm from margins, often more prominently raised than the primary lateral veins below. INFLORESCENCES erect-spreading; peduncle 16-49 cm long, dark green, terete; spathe 16-21.5 cm long, 2-3 cm wide, medium-green, erect or spreading to reflexed, semiglossy; spadix 15-19 cm long, 6-10 mm diam., creamy white, greenish to pale yellowish-green, becoming creamy white at anthesis, sometimes tinged brown toward apex post-anthesis, finally becoming dark green and semiglossy. INFRUCTESCENCES 23-27 cm long, with tepals green; young berries 3 mm diam., greenish white or whitish, pale yellow-green to green at maturity.