Anthurium subcordatum Schott,

Oesterr. Bot. 7. 8: 181. 1858.
a. Anthurium subcordatum ssp. subcordatum. TYPE: Guatemala. Quctzaltcnango: Las Nubcs on slopes of Volcán Zunil, 8,000', Wendland 330 (GOET).

Anthurium hasialtenualum Stand!, ex Yuncker, Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Scr. 17:316, PI. 4. 1938. TYPE: Honduras. Comayagua: ridge above El Achiote, Yuncker el al. 6268 (F, holotype). Anthurium coibionii Standl. & Steyerm., Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 23: 2U9. 1947. TYPE: Guatemala. Zacapa: Sierra de Las Minas, Steyermark 42212 (F, holotype; US, isotype).

Epiphytic or terrestrial; stem thick, 1.5-4 cm diam.; leaf scars 2.5 cm wide; roots moderately thick, green, descending; cataphylls subcoria-ceous, 5-11.2 cm long, narrowly rounded, apiculate at apex, drying light brown, dilacerating at base, persisting.

LEAVES spreading; petioles sharply and shallowly sulcate, 16-44 cm long,6-9 mm diam.; geniculum 1.5-2.2 cm long;
blades ovate to narrowly triangular, moderately thick, gradually acuminate at apex, rounded, truncate or shallowly lobed at base, 28-62 cm long, 10.5-25 cm wide, broadest well above base; anterior lobe 28-40 cm long, the margins ± straight; posterior lobes 4-8 cm long; sinus arcuate, to parabolic, rarely hippocrepiform, rounded at apex; both surfaces semiglossy, the lower surface sometimes glaucous; the midrib convexly raised above and below, sunken toward apex above; basal veins 2-3 pairs, usually free to base: posterior ribs naked, the outer margins weakly rolled up; primary lateral veins 6-9 per side, departing midrib al 40°-70° angle, sunken above; intermediate and secondary veins sunken above; tertiary veins conspicuous below, flat; collective arising from the first basal vein, 6-11 mm from margin.

INFLORESCENCE erect-spreading, shorter than leaves; peduncle 10-38 cm long, 2-4.5 mm diam., terete, sometimes tinged violet-purple; spathe thin, green sometimes suffused with violet-purple (B & K. Yellow-green 7/ 10), lanceolate to narrowly ovate, 2.5-7.6 cm long, 1.4-2.7 cm wide, abruptly acuminate at apex, truncate to rounded at base, inserted at 30° angle on peduncle; stipe to 17 mm; spadix dark violet-purple or green heavily tinged violet-purple, 3.5-13.5 cm long, 5.5-9 mm diam. at base, 3-6 mm diam. at apex; flowers rhombic to sub-4-lobed, 2.5-3.5 mm long, 3-3.5 mm wide, the sides straight to sigmoid, difficult to discern; 5-7 flowers visible in the principal spiral, 8-11 flowers visible in the alternate spiral; tepals matte to semiglossy, minutely papillate, lateral tepals 1.3-1.8 mm wide, the inner margins ± straight; pistils emergent, green; stigma oblong-elliptic to linear, 0.4-0.9 mm long; stamens emerging in a moderately rapid sequence from the base, the laterals emerged from one fifth to two thirds the length of spadix before third to fourth emerge at base, held above and obscuring pistil then retracting and opening; anthers tan or orange-brown, 1 mm long, 0.8-12 mm wide; thecae ob-long-cllipsoid, scarcely divaricate; pollen cream to yellow.

INFRUCTESCENCE erect to spreading; berries obovoid, red, ca. 1 cm long, 1.2 cm wide; seeds 2, ca. 6 mm long, 5.5 mm wide. Figs. 191 and 196.

The species ranges from western Guatemala in the Departments of Huchuclcnango, Quiche and Alta Verapa/. to northern F.I Salvador and western Honduras al elevations from 1,100 to 2,800 m. The species occurs in moist and wet forest.
Anthurium subcordatum is in section Belolonchium and, like a number of Mexican and Central American species, is quite variable, characterized by its thick, truncate to subcordate leaf blades, sharply sulcate petioles, violet-purple spadix (or sometimes green heavily tinged violet-purple), and bright red, ovoid berries. The species is probably most closely related to A. subovatum from the Sierra de Juare/ in northern Oaxaca (Mexico) but differs in having the blade generally broadest well above the base (even on cordate blades as the posterior lobes are turned inward) with most of the tertiary veins obscure, in having the basal veins usually fewer in number (1-3) and usually widespread, sometimes having the second basal vein running to the apex or to the margin well above the middle, Anthurium subovatum has 3-4 basal veins, usually tinged with red and these are generally directed toward the apex al a more acute angle than those of A.subcordatum. In addition, the berries of A. subcordatum are bright red whereas those of A. subovatum are orange. In his discussion of A. subcordatum in Flora of Guatemala, Steyermark (Standley & Steyermark, 1958) referred to A. quinquinervium Kunth of South America as a close relative and believed that the two species might be synonymous. Although I have not seen live material of the latter species, it is unlikely that the two are synonymous.
Anthurium subcordatum consists of two subspecies. Subspecies subcordatum extends throughout the range of the species. Subspecies chlorocardium is endemic to the slopes ofCerro Santa Barbara (Dept. of Santa Barbara) in western Honduras.
Populations of A. subcordatum from southwestern Honduras were described as A. hasiattenuatum by Standley based on the more acute leaf base, but they are well within the expected range of variation of ssp. subcordatum and are connected to the more typical populations from El Salvador and Guatemala by another Honduran collection (Molina 22322).
It is somewhat unusual that both extremes of the leaf shape variation occur in Honduras since ssp. chlorocardium is at the opposite extreme from A. hasiattenuatum. with well developed posterior lobes.

Map of Mesoamerican specimens with coordinates

El Salvador Santa Ana: 1900-2000m, 14.27N 89.22W, 27 January 1998, Gerrit Davidse, Alex Monro, Karen Sidwell, Hector Martínez & Carlos Salazar 37161 (MO).