Anthurium algentryi Croat

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

General Description

Appressed-climbing hemiepiphyte; caudex elongated, with numerous internodal adventitious roots; internodes elongated and slender, 4–9 cm long, c. 2 mm diam., drying dull green; cataphylls deciduous, without any remnants visible on mature nodes. Leaves spread along the stem; petiole green, drying sharply sulcate adaxially and prominently several-ribbed around its circumference, 5– 6.5 cm long, c. 1 mm diam., sheathed for up to 2.5 cm of its length, with the base of the sheath clasping the caudex; blade narrowly ovate-subcordate, widest near base and gradually tapering into a short acumen, 10.5–14.5 cm long, 5–5.6 cm wide, averaging 12.7 × 5.2 cm, 2.1–2.6 × as long as wide, 2–2.5 × as long as petiole, drying dark greyish green above, light greyish green below; midrib weakly sunken and concolorous above, raised and slightly paler below; primary lateral veins 5–6 pairs, rising at 50–60° angle, raised and concolorous above, raised and slightly paler below, weaker than the collective veins; collective veins arising from the first pair of basal veins, 3–12 mm from margin at the middle of the blade; basal veins 3(–4) pairs, all free to the base, the first pair arching directly towards the apex and turning into the collective veins, the 2nd pair following the margin for about half the length of the blade, the lower pairs more diffuse and remaining within the basal lobes. Inflorescence protruding at 90° angle from the stem; peduncle terete, c. 11 cm long, 1 mm diam.; spathe green, lanceolate, c. 6 cm long, 1 cm wide, membranaceous; spadix sessile, tapering towards the apex, c. 8.5 cm long, 5 mm diam., green. Flowers 2–3 visible per spiral, 2.5–2.8 mm long, 1.6–2 mm wide; tepals moderately smooth but with a few coarse granules and with the margins somewhat turned up on drying; lateral tepals 2–2.1 mm wide, outer margin 2-sided, inner margin rounded. Infructescences with berries orange.

Distribution

known only from the type locality in Colombia in Chocó Department.

Habitat

Alluvial flood plain forest at 100 m elevation in a Premontane rain forest transition life zone.

Diagnostic

The species is a member of Anthurium sect. Polyphyllium and is characterised by its elongate, slender internodes, the presence of internodal roots, slender petioles, which dry sharply sulcate adaxially and prominently several-ribbed around the circumference, by its narrowly ovate-subcordate, greyish-drying leaf blades with 3 pairs of basal veins, the innermost pairs of which forms the collective veins, as well as by the long-pedunculate inflorescence with a green, lanceolate spathe and a green spadix with orange berries.

Anthurium algentryi is only the third species in section Polyphyllium, the others being A. clidemioides Standl. and A. flexile Schott from Central America. It is most similar to A. flexile owing to its rather elongated leaf blades but these are subcordate and widest near the base in A. algentryi, whereas generally rounded at the base, sometimes subcordate, and always widest near or above the middle in A. flexile.

Anthurium algentryi is also similar to A. clidemioides var. pacificum from Costa Rica, which has leaf blades 2.1–3 × longer than broad and also widest near the base, but that species differs in having very a short peduncle that is much shorter than the spadix. In contrast, A. algentryi has a long, slender peduncle much longer than the spadix. A. clidemioides var. clidemioides differs in the same manner but in addition has blades that are more conspicuously bullate and broadly ovate, 1.2–1.4 × longer than broad.