Anthurium Start PageContentsAnthurium cuasicanumAnthurium dichrophylum

Anthurium curvilaminum Croat, sp. nov.

TYPE: Panama. Code: along ridge N of sawmill above El Copé, 930-1,200 m, Hammel 3544 (MO 2658913, holotype; K, PMA, isotypes; Live at MO).

Planta epiphytica aut epipetra; cataphyllurn modice coriaceum, persistens in fibris grossis; petiolus leviter et obtuse sulcatus, 5-17 cm longus; lamina coriacca, oblongo-lanceolata ad raro anguste elliptica, costa manifeste areuata, basi acuta, 25-52 cm longa, 6-14 cm lata, pagina inferiore conspicuo glanduloso-punctata; inflorescentia erecta-effusa; pedunculus teres, 16-30 cm longus; spatha viridis suffusa rubro-violacea, lanceolata ad oblonga, 3.5-9 cm longa, 1-3 cm lata; spadix purpureus, 5-11 cm longus; baccae subglo-bosae, rubrae.

Epiphytic or epipetric herb; stems short, less than 15 cm long, 1.5-2.5 cm diam.; internodes short; leaf scars inconspicuous; roots spreading or descending, 2-3 mm diam.; cataphylls moderately thick, narrowly acuminate at apex, drying reddish brown, weathering to coarse, persistent fibers.

LEAVES with petioles erect, 5-17 cm long, 7-10 mm diam., rounded abaxially, shallowly and bluntly sulcate adaxially; geniculum 1-2 cm long, only slightly paler and thicker than the petiole; blades coriaceous, oblong-lanceolate to rarely narrowly elliptic, prominently arched along the midrib (sometimes forming an arc equalling half of a circle), short-acuminate at apex, acute at base, 25-52 cm long, 6-14 cm wide usually broadest just above the middle, the margin markedly revolute, not at all undulate; upper surface semiglossy, lacking glandular-punctations, drying with numerous, pale raphide cells visible; lower surface much paler, densely and conspicuously glandular-punctate; midrib broadly raised at base above, diminishing and sunken to near apex, convexly raised (to 0.8 mm) below; primary lateral veins 12-20 per side, departing midrib at 40-60° angle, running straight to the collective vein, weakly etched to weakly sunken above, flat to prominulous below, drying pro-minulous to prominent above, flat to prominulous below; interprimary veins weakly visible on both surfaces, drying more or less as prominent as the primary lateral veins; collective vein arising from the base, 7-10(-16) mm from the margin, etched or weakly sunken above, drying prominently sunken above, prominent below.

INFLORESCENCE erect-spreading, shorter than the leaves; peduncle 16-30 cm long, 5-7 mm diam., 2-3 times longer than the petioles, terete; spathe green tinged with red-violet, lanceolate to oblong, 3.5-9 cm long, 1-3 cm wide, broadest near middle or below, obtuse to rounded and cuspidate at apex (the tip inrolled along its margins), acute at base, the margins rolled under, meeting unequally at base, inserted at 60° on peduncle; spadix violet purple (B & K Blue-purple 5/2.5), weakly tapered, bluntly rounded at apex, 5-11 cm long, 8-10 mm diam. near base, 5-7 mm diam. at apex; flowers 4-lobed, 2.2-2.5 mm long, 2.5-2.8 mm wide, the sides jaggedly sigmoid, 8-13 (mostly 9) flowers visible in the principal spiral; tepals glossy, the lateral tepals 1.2 mm diam., 5-6-sided, the inner margin obtusely angular; pistil not emergent before anthe-sis of stamens, then hidden by the stamens; stamens emerging promptly, beginning from the base, the lateral stamens emerging throughout the length of the spadix before the alternates emerge; anthers 0.3 mm long, 0.6 mm wide, lavender, held in a tight cluster over pistil; thecae ellipsoid, widely divaricate; pollen lavender, fading white.

INFRUCTESCENCE with berries subglobose, red, ca. 5-6 mm diam.; seeds brown, 3-3.2 mm long, 2.4 mm diam., 1.7 mm thick, obovoid-elliptic, narrowly rounded at base and oblique, truncate or weakly sunken at apex with a short, translucent appendage. Figs. 60 and 61.

Anthurium curvilaminum is endemic to Panama. All collections to date are from the area near the Continental Divide north of El Copé in Code Province at 750 to 950 m in premontane rain forest or from the Serrania de Canasas in an area of tropical wet or premontane rain forest at 400 to 700 m. Specimens from the latter area are often described as having a reddish spadix but also purple. No live material of these is yet available and dried specimens show no significantndifferences between the two areas. Nevertheless, further studies with material from the Serrania de Caiiasas could show it to be distinct.

Anthurium curvilaminum is in section Porphyrochitonium. It can easily be confused with larger leaved specimens of A. bakeri, but the latter has generally thinner blades and always has a white spadix that is not strongly scented at anthesis. The spadix of A. curvilaminum is strongly aromatic, smelling vaguely of vanilla during the middle part of the day.

Anthurium curvilaminum is perhaps also related to A. redolens from the Serrania del Sapo, which also has leaves lacking glands on the upper surface and an aromatic, violet purple spadix, but that species has sunken primary lateral veins, and the spadix yields a different aroma.


 

 

Panama CoclŽ: El Copé,, , Hammel 3544 (CAS, M, US).
Panama CoclŽ: 1050 m,, 21 June 1978, B. Hammel 3544 (MO).
CoclŽ: vicinity El Copé, Croat 44739, 49170 (MO), Folsom 1236, 5727 (MO), Folsom & Robinson 2383 (MO), Hammel 3544 (K, MO, PMA).
Panama: vicinity Pilota del Toro, Folsom 4986 (MO), Folsom et al. 6820 (MO);
vicinity Rancho Chorro, mountains above Torti-Arriba, Folsom et al. 6710 (MO).