Anthurium podophyllum (Cham. & Schlect.) Kunth,

Enum. PI. 3: 80. 1841. Pothos podophyllum Cham. & Schlecht., Linnaea 6: 22. 1831. TYPE: Mexico. Veracruz; Hacienda dc la Laguna, Schiede &. Deppe (B; not seen, illustrated by Schott Aroid Drawing #791, W).

Pothos laciniatus M. Martens & Galeotti, Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles 10(1); 122. 1843. TYPE: Mexico. Veracrux: Zacualpan, Galeotti 6055 (BR).
Anthurium polytomum Schott, Bonplandia 7: 337. 1859. TYPE: Mexico. (Photo of Schott Aroid Drawing #805, NYBG Neg. #N.S. 3924; Photo MO).
Anthurium pseudopodophyllum Schott, Bonplandia 7: 338. 1859. typk: Cultivated in Vienna (Photo of Schott Aroid Drawing #811, NYBG Neg. #N.S. 3926; Photo MO).
Anthurium ghiesbreghtii Linden ex Schott, Prod. Aroid. 538. 1860. TYPE: none listed.
Anthurium membranuliferum Schott & Ohiend. ex Engl., Monogr. Phan. 2: 196. 1879. (Known only in cultivation.)

Usually terrestrial or epipetric, often more than 1 m tall; stems 2.5-3.5 cm diam.; roots descending: cataphylls, coriaceous, 7.5-11 cm long, gradually acuminate at apex, drying medium brown, persisting as linear fibers.

LEAVES with petioles erect-spreading, 39-69 cm long, ca. 9 mm diam., D-shaped; geniculum 5 cm long; blades subcoriaceous, broadly ovate, deeply to broadly lobed at base, (3)5-10 pedatisect, the lobes usually 5-12 pinnatifid, fused 8-1 Ocm at base, 16-47 cm long; the outermost lobes 7.5-27 cm long, auriculate; sinus hippocrepiform to nearly arcuate, rounded at apex; upper surface glossy, lower surface semiglossy; midrib of median lobe raised, rounded, diminished and flat at apex above, raised below; primary lateral veins 2-3 per side, departing midrib at 40° angle, sunken above, raised below; basal veins 3-5 pairs, second and third coalesced to 2 cm, the third and fourth coalesced 3.2 cm; the posterior ribs straight; collective vein arising from the first primary lateral vein, 8-9 mm from the margin, sunken above, raised below.

INFLORESCENCE spreading-pendent, longer than leaves; penduncle 38-100 cm long, to 6 mm diam., terete, equal to or longer than petioles; spathe subcoriaceous, yellow-green (B & K Yellow-green 7/7.5), lanceolate, 4.5-9 cm long, 1.6-2.2 cm wide, broadest just above base, acuminate at apex, inserted at 45° angle on peduncle; stipe 9 mm long in front, 5 mm long in back, 4 mm diam.; spadix green, sometimes tinged with purple (B & K Yellow-green 6/5), 4-14 cm long, 7-11 mm diam. at base, 3-5 mm diam. at apex; flowers rhombic, 3.2-4.6 mm long, 2.5-4.6 mm wide, the sides straight to weakly sigmoid; 6-8 flowers visible in the principal spiral, 7-9 flowers visible in the alternate spiral; tcpals matte, minutely papillate, lateral tepals 1.2-2.2 mm wide, the inner margins broadly rounded, turned up against pistils; pistil emergent, green; stigma linear, 0.6 mm long, dry, brown, crusty before stamens emerge; stamens emerging in a moderately slow sequence from base, exserted above pistil, then withdrawing, the leading stamens in any phase only a few spirals ahead of succeeding stamens; filament green; anthers white, held over pistil in tight cluster, ca. 0.6 mm in both directions; thccac narrowly ovoid, dark brown, slightly divaricate; pollen cream-colored.

INFRUCTESCENCE pendent, spathe persisting; spadix to 4.5 cm diam.; berries dull orange (B & K Yellow-red 7/5), obovoid to obovoid-ellipsoid, rounded at apex, 13-19 mm long, 7-15 mm diam.; mesocarp thick, juicy, orange with small raphide cells; seeds 1 or 2, pale green, flattened, oblong to oblong-obovoid, 9-10 mm long, 5-6 mm wide, 3.3-4.3 mm thick (sometimes with one large almost subterete seed) with appendages at both ends, the lower appendage flattened, about as broad as the seed. Figs. 144 and 145.

Anthurium podophyllum is endemic to the Atlantic coast of Mexico in Veracruz and Oaxaca at elevations of 750 to 2,000 m in "selva mediana subperennifolia." The Oaxaca populations occur at higher elevations (up to ca. 2,000 m), and have leaf lobes mostly entire to sinuate, rarely lobed as in pre-adult plants of A. podophyllum from Veracruz. Veracruz populations usually occur below 1,000 m and have more finely dissected leaves with the lobes pinnatifid.
Anthurium podophyllum is in section Schizoplacium and is characterized by its subcoriaceous, pedatisect leaf blades with the lobes usually sinuate to pinnatifid, and by its long inflorescence usually equalling or exceeding the length of the leaves. The Oaxaca populations have leaves similar in shape to A. pedatoradiatum, but the latter is recognized by its much thinner leaf blades, lobes with uniform margins, and generally shorter peduncles.
The species is rare in the wild, having been collected in only a few relatively adjacent localities since the type collection was made in Zacualpan.