Anthurium andicola Liebm.,

Vidensk. Meddel. Dansk Naturhist. Foren. Kjobenhavn 1: 22. 1849. TYPE: Mexico. Veracruz: Santa María Alpatlahua (NE of Coscomatepec) on slopes of Volcán Orizaba, 2,500 m. Liebmann (K, hololectotype here designated).

Anthurium cucullatum C. Koch, Index Sem. Hort. Berol. App. 6. 1853.
Anthurium andicola var. cucullatum (C. Koch) Engl., Monogr. Phan. 2: 169, N. 97. 1879. TYPE: Origin unknown (cultivated).
Anthurium macdougallii Matuda, Anales Inst. Biol. Univ. Nac. Mexico 25: 216, fig. 55, 1954. TYPE: Mexico. Oaxaca: Tenango, 1,300-1,700 m, MacDougall s.n. (MEXU, holotype).
Anthurium oaxacamonticolum Matuda, Anales Inst. Biol. Univ. Nac. Mexico 27: 344. 1957. TYPE: Mexico. Oaxaca: vie. La Gloria, near the Oaxaca-Chiapas border, MacDouffall s.n. March 5, 1953 (MEXU, holotype).
Anthurium campii A. D. Hawkes (not published). TYPE: Mexico. Oaxaca: near Ayutia, Camp 2362 (NY).
Anthurium chochotlensis Matuda, Cad. Sue. Mex. 20: 11. 1975. TYPE: Mexico. Oaxaca: Chochotia (probably Santa María Chilcholla at 18¡l4'N;96¡49'W). Huatia de Jimenez, Matuda 38620 (MEXU, holotype).
 

Epiphytic or on rocks, sometimes in soil on rocky cliffs; stems less than 20 cm long; leaf scars ca. 1.7 cm wide; roots thick, descending; cataphylls subcoriaceous, 2-4.5 cm long, tinged red at margins and apex, the apex round, minutely apiculate, drying medium brown (B & K Yellow 5/5), weathering to fibrous network at base.

LEAVES with petioles erect to spreading, 18-47 cm long, 4-8 mm diam., sharply sulcate, weakly glaucous; geniculum 1.5-2 cm long, faintly tinged red; blades broadly ovate-deltoid, thick, narrowly acuminate at apex (rarely rounded), usually prominently lobed at base (rarely merely obtuse), 20-37.5 cm long, 13-27 cm wide, broadest at point of petiole attachment; anterior lobe 19-29 cm long, the margins broadly rounded; posterior lobes 7.5-13 cm long; sinus arcuate with de-current petiole to parabolic to sometimes hippocrepiform; both surfaces matte to semiglossy, the lower surface weakly glaucous; midrib convexly raised above, diminished and flat at apex, more acutely raised below; basal veins 3-6 pairs, the first free to base, those remaining coalesced 1-3 cm, posterior rib naked, weakly curved, the outer margin scarcely turned up; primary lateral veins 3-5 per side, departing midrib at 55¡ angle, ± straight to collective vein, sunken above, raised below, interprimary veins sunken above, raised below, tertiary vein prominulous above, obscure below (drying prominent on both surfaces); collective vein arising from the first basal vein or from one of the lowermost primary lateral veins, sunken above, raised below, 4-8 mm from margin, sometimes the second basal vein running almost to apex.

INFLORESCENCE erect, shorter than or equal to leaves; peduncle 16-40 cm long, 4-6 mm diam., terete, sometimes with a single ridge tinged reddish; spathe thin, medium green (B & K Yellow-green 5/5), narrowly ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 5.5-7.5 cm long, 2-2.8 cm wide, narrowly acuminate at apex, rounded to subcordate at base, inserted at 45¡ angle on peduncle; spadix green heavily tinged purple or dark purple (B & K Blue-purple 2/10), 4-10.5 cm long, 5-9 mm diam. at base, 2-5 mm diam. at apex; flowers square 3-3.6 mm in both directions, the sides straight parallel to spirals, weakly to jaggedly sigmoid perpendicular to spirals; 5-6 flowers visible in the principal spiral, 6-7 flowers visible in the alternate spiral; tepals matte, weakly punctate, very minutely papillate, the lateral tepals 2.1-2.2 mm wide, the inner margin broadly rounded; pistils weakly emergent, green to purplish (paler than tepals); stigma linear, ca. 7 mm long, with large, clear droplets ca. 1 month before stamens emerge; lateral stamens emerging from the base, followed by alternates in rapid progression, leading stamens preceding the next in the series by 2 or 3 spirals; anthers white to pale yellow, ca. 0.7 mm long, 0.8 mm wide, held over pistil then retracting and held at sides of pistil; thecae ellipsoid, somewhat divaricate; pollen yellow, fading to white.

INFRUCTESCENCE pendent, spathe deciduous;
berries orange, obovoid, rounded at apex, 1.5 cm long, 8 mm diam., 6 mm thick; mesocarp fleshy, orange; seeds 2, greenish orange, flattened, ca. 9 mm long, 5 mm wide. Figs. 6, 7 and 10.

Anthurium andicola is endemic to Mexico, at 1,000 to 2,500 m elevation, occurring in both the Sierra Madre Oriental where it ranges from central Vera Cruz to northern Oaxaca and in the Sierra Madre del Sur south of Oaxaca City. One collection by MacDougall supposedly from La Gloria on the Chiapas-Oaxaca border is worthy of mention regarding its range and elevation. The only La Gloria near the border of the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas is near the Pacific Coast at an elevation of near sea level. This locality is out of place for A. andicola both geographically (being ca. 270 km east of the nearest other collecting locality) and altitudinally (all other collections from above 1,000 m). Yet the specimen differs little from collections made in the Sierra Madre del Sur (especially those from Pochutia). A collection from La Gloria (MacDougall s.n., March 5, 1953) was designated the type of A. oaxacamonticolum. A MacDougall s.n. collection from La Gloria was studied that bears the date "Mar./ 53" (MEXU 110308) but it is uncertain whether this is the type because the type description describes a plant with larger leaves and inflorescences.
Anthurium andicola is recognized by its usually ovate, reniform or ovate-triangular leaves with prominently raised tertiary venation (especially on drying), and D-shaped or broadly sulcate petiole with sharp margins and green to dark violet-purple spadix. Both the petiole and the lower leaf blade surface are often covered with a thin waxy bloom. The species is among the most variable in Mexico and even within a single population variation in leaf shape can be great, varying from conspicuously lobed at the base to not at all lobed. Plants from central Vera Cruz in the type locality are uniformly ovate to broadly ovate with rounded lobes and an arcuate to parabolic or horse-shoe shaped sinus. Further south at the type locality of A. macdougallii the posterior lobes are often directed inward with the sinus almost reniform. The same variation occurs in the Sierra Madre del Sur but leaves there are often more diminutive with less pronounced posterior lobes and more frequently an arcuate sinus. Sometimes the anterior lobe is considerably reduced and almost rounded at the apex such as in the case of Reko 6064 from Pochutia (Oaxaca) and MacDougall s.n. from La Gloria (Chiapas), which is the type of A. oaxacamonticolum. It has been placed in section Belolonchium.
The species is not easily confused with any other although some specimens, especially those with poorly developed posterior lobes from the southern cordillera, are similar to those of A. chamulense.
One specimen collected at an unknown locality in the Sierra de Oaxaca (September, 1961) and assigned a Matuda collecting number (38275) is sterile but probably is also A. andicola. This collection bears the herbarium name A. glaucotitanioides Matuda. The blade is thinner than most and does not have the pronounced venation of typical A. andicola.
The herbarium name A. campii A. D. Hawkes based on Camp 2762 represents a form of A. andicola not much unlike the typical form from Vera Cruz, even though it was collected relatively near the type of A macdougallii.
Matuda 38721, presumably collected near Mitia, SW of Oaxaca, has blades thinner and with less conspicuous venation than most A. andicola
collections. The region was visited recently and turned up no obvious habitat for Anthurium so he live plants could not be investigated further. They are presumably only unusually thin-leaved collections of A. andicola, since that species occurs on both the Atlantic and Pacific slopes, but no other collections have been made in the vicinity of Mitia.

Map of Mesoamerican specimens with coordinates

Mexico :, , Galeotti 6096 (BR). Mexico :, , Liebmann 22348 (MO).
Mexico Chiapas: Mpo. Tenejapa, 2700 m,, 23 May 1988, Breedlove 68584 (CAS).
Mexico Chiapas: Mpo. Jitotol, 2200 m,, 27 Jan. 1992, Chazaro et al. 6859 (MO, IGE).
Mexico Chiapas: Mun. Jaltenango, 2000 m,, 25 Feb. 1990, Hampshire , R. et al. 665 (MEXU).
Mexico Chiapas: Mun. Jaltenango, 2100 m, 15.39N 92.50W, 19 Feb. 1990, Hampshire , R. et al. 439 (MEXU).
Mexico Chiapas: El Triunfo Reserve, 1900 m, 15.39N 92.52W, 27 Feb. 1990, Hampshire , R. et al. 765 (MEXU).
Mexico Guerrero: 2830 m,, 19 Oct. 1975, Reveal et al. 4331 (K, MO). Mexico Guerrero: 8500 ft.,, 1975, Reveal et al. 4252 (K).
Mexico Mexico:, , Matuda 28025 (MEXU).
Mexico Oaxaca: Municipio de Comaltepec, 2250 m, 17.35.35N 96.28.35W, 17 October 1991, B. Boyle & A. Boyle 547 (MO).
Mexico Oaxaca: Mpo. Comaltepec, 2000 m, 17.33N 96.31W, 20 Oct. 1986, Lopez & Martín 97a (MO).
Mexico Oaxaca: Mpo. Comaltepec, 1600 m, 17.37N 96.21W, 20 Sept. 1988, Luna & Martín 373 (MO).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , Galeotti 6056 (P).
Mexico Oaxaca: Río Tlahuitoltepec,, , Camp 2762 (NY).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , Thomas B. Croat 48215 (MO).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , Matuda 38620 (MEXU).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , Graham & Frolich 1046 (MICH).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , MacDougall s.n. (MEXU). Mexico Oaxaca:, , Matuda 20321 (MEXU).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , Matuda 38721 (MEXU).
Mexico Oaxaca: Dtto. Pochutla, Cerro del Machete,, , Reko 6064 (GH).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , Matuda 38421 (MEXU).
Mexico Oaxaca: Sierra de Oaxaca,, , Matuda 38275 (MEXU).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , Davidse 9665 (MO).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , Rzedowski 21300 (ENCB, US, MICH).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , MacDougall 26027 (MexEXU).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , Valdivia 2137 (MEXU).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , Thomas B. Croat 43933 (MO).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , Rzedowski 19049 (ENCB, MICH).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , Chazaro 813 (MEXU).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , Ventura 813 (CAS, ENCB, UMO 148444).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , Hernandez 1585 (F).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , Hernandez 1596 (F). Mexico Oaxaca:, , Botterie 85 (GH).
Mexico Oaxaca:, , Botterie 135 (GH). Mexico Oaxaca:, , Matuda 1540 (MICH).
Mexico Oaxaca: Dtto. Choapan, 1100 m., 17.18N 95.5W, 1 June 1939, Schultes 569a (ECON).
Mexico Oaxaca: Mpo. Totontepec, 1900 m, 17.15N 95W, 8 Oct. 1989, Reyes 1203 (MO).
Mexico Oaxaca: Municipio de Comaltepec, 2250 m, 17.35.35N 96.28.35W, 17 October 1991, B. Boyle & A. Boyle 548 (MO).
Mexico Oaxaca: Municipio de Comaltepec, 2250 m, 17.35.35N 96.28.35W, 11 October 1991, B. Boyle & A. Boyle 502 .
Mexico Oaxaca: 2200 m, 16.14N 96.57W, 15 Mar. 1989, Toriz , G. & A. Campos 815 (MEXU, MO).
Mexico Oaxaca: 1100 m, 17.36N 97W, 10 Dec. 1991, Tovar , A.S. et al. 6679 (MEXU).
Mexico Oaxaca: Mpio. Tontepec, 1900 m, 17.15N 96.02W, 18 Feb 1991, Reyes , J.R. & G.J. Martín 1749 (MEXU).
Mexico Oaxaca: 2200 m, 17.07N 96.58W, 12 Feb. 1988, Tenorio , P.L. 14349 (MEXU).
Mexico Veracruz: 1400 m,, 11 Jun 1985, Chazaro & Padilla 3532 (WIS).
Mexico Veracruz: Jalapa,, 1992, Thomas B. Croat 71992 (MO).
Mexico Veracruz:, , Hernandez & Cedillo 1129 (F, GH, MEXU).
Mexico Veracruz: Ixhuacan, 1500 m,, 22 June 1986, Chazaro & Padilla 3724 (WIS).
Mexico Veracruz: Xico, 2300 m,, 22 Oct 1986, Chazaro 4118 (WIS).
Mexico Veracruz: Ixhuacan, 1800 m,, 12 Oct 1982, Marquez & Chazaro 56 (WIS).