Araceae
Anthurium penningtonii Croat
SUMMARY
Terrestrial, rarely epiphytic; stem to 50 cm long, 1-3 cm diam.; roots dense, drying whitish to tan, moderately elongate; cataphylls thin, lanceolate, 6-13 cm long, acuminate at apex, drying reddish brown, persisting semi-intact, quickly weathering to straw-colored fibers. LEAVES erect-spreading; petioles 11-31 cm long, 4-8 mm diam., subterete to triangular, flattened to broadly convex adaxially, sometimes with the margins sharp, rounded or sharply 1-ribbed abaxially; geniculum slightly paler and scarcely thicker than petiole, (0.6)l-3 cm long; sheath 1.5-3 cm long; blades coriaceous to subcoriaceous, broadly elliptic, rarely somewhat oblanceolate, shortly acuminate at apex, acute to narrowly acute at base, 35-61 cm long, 10-19 cm wide, broadest near the middle, the margins flat to slightly revolute; upper surface weakly glossy to semiglossy to glossy, dark to medium green, lower surface semiglossy, conspicuously paler; midrib convexly raised at base, becoming sharply acute toward the apex above, slightly paler than surface, acutely raised below; primary lateral veins 24-43 per side, departing midrib at 40-60° angle, straight to the collective vein, usually prominently and sharply raised above, flat to sunken below; interprimary veins almost as conspicuous as primary lateral veins; tertiary veins obscure, prominulous above and below on drying; reticulate veins not visible; collective vein arising from the base, equally as prominent as primary lateral veins, 10-15 mm from margin. INFLORESCENCES erect; peduncle 21-52 cm long, 3-4 mm diam., 1-2.2 x as long as petiole, green to purple, terete, sometimes with many weakly to prominently raised striations; spathe reflexed or rarely spreading, subcoriaceous, green, usually tinged with purple, oblong-lanceolate, 3.5-7 cm long, 0.6-1.3 cm wide, broadest near the base, acute to abruptly acuminate at apex, acute at base; spadix green, usually tinged with purple to purplish brown, sessile or stipitate to 2 mm, scarcely tapered, erect, 2.5-5.5 cm long, 3-5 mm diam. midway, 3-4 mm diam. near apex; flowers square to rhombic, 1.4-2 mm long, 1.4-1.8 mm wide, the sides straight; 5-9 flowers visible in principal spiral, 4-6 in alternate spiral; tepals matte, minutely papillate; lateral tepals 1.1-1.2 mm wide, the inner margins rounded, the outer margins 2-sided; pistils emergent, glossy; stamens exserted; anthers pink-orange, 0.4-0.5 mm long, 0.5 mm wide; thecae oblong-ellipsoid, slightly divaricate; pollen pale orange fading to white. INFRUCTESCENCE erect; spathe persisting; spadix 8-10 cm long, 1.3-1.7 cm diam., with berries scattered throughout; berries (immature) green, emergent ca. halfway, obovoid, shortly beaked at apex on drying, ca. 6.5 mm long, ca. 4 mm diam.; pericarp with raphide cells; seeds 2 per berry, oblong-obovoid, flattened, beaked at apex, 4-4.5 mm long, 2.5-2.7 mm wide, 1.5-1.8 mm thick, with a gelatinous appendage at one end.