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Araceae
Anthurium protensum subsp. arcuatum Croat
SUMMARY
Usually epiphytic; stem less than 10 cm long, 0.7-1.8 cm diam., leaf scars 0.6 cm high, 1 cm wide; roots descending, greenish, pubescent, elongate, 3-4 mm diam.; cataphylls coriaceous, narrowly lanceolate, 3.4-7 cm long, green weakly tinged with red at margins, acute at apex, drying tan (B & K yellow 5/5), persisting intact, soon dilacerating into reticulum of fine fibers. LEAVES spreading to pendent; petioles 10-32 cm long, 2- 4 mm diam., subterete to bluntly D-shaped to quadrangular, sharply 4-5-ribbed and winged, flattened to weakly or prominently and narrowly sulcate adaxially, the margins sharply raised to winged, rounded to bluntly angular to sharply ribbed abaxially, the surface sparsely pale-speckled; geniculum slightly paler and thicker than petiole, 1-1.5 cm long; blades coriaceous to subcoriaceous, oblong to narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic or lanceolate, gradually long-acuminate at apex, obtuse to rounded at base, 19-51 cm long, 2.5-7.5 cm wide, broadest at or below middle; upper surface weakly glossy to semiglossy, dark green, lower surface semiglossy to glossy below, paler; midrib above convexly raised at base, becoming narrowly raised and eventually weakly sunken toward the apex, below acutely higher than broad at base, becoming sharply acute toward the apex, paler than surface above and below; primary lateral veins 7-12 per side, departing midrib at 45-50° angle, weakly arcuate to the collective vein, prominently to slightly sunken above, sharply to weakly raised and darker than surface below; interprimary veins scarcely visible, sunken above, raised below; tertiary veins obscure above, sometimes weakly visible below; collective vein arising from the base, sunken above, moderately sharply raised below, equally as prominent as primary lateral veins, 2-5 mm from margin. INFLORESCENCES erect to spreading, shorter than leaves; peduncle 13-38 cm long, 2-4 mm diam., usually longer than petioles, 0.5-2 x as long as petioles, pale green sometimes tinged with reddish violet, terete to sharply 1-ribbed abaxially; spathe erect, curved over and hooding spadix, plain green or heavily tinged with reddish violet to reddish purple, ovate to broadly lanceolate, 4.5-14 cm long, 1.7-3.5 cm wide, broadest near the base, inserted at 70° angle on peduncle, long-acuminate to caudate at apex, obtuse to rounded or subcordate at base; stipe 5-15 mm long; spadix white to lavender (B & K purple 7/7.5) (also reported as light green becoming tan), cylindroid to weakly tapered, weakly curved, 2-9 cm long, 4-6 mm diam. near base, 3-4 mm diam. near apex; flowers rhombic to 4-lobed, (1.3)1.5-3 mm long, (1.3)1.6-2.8 mm wide, drying 1.7-1.9(2.2) mm wide; the sides jaggedly to smoothly sigmoid; 4-5 flowers visible in principal spiral, 5-8 in alternate spiral; tepals matte, minutely and densely papillate; lateral tepals 0.7-1.7 mm wide, the inner margins convex, the outer margins 2-3-sided; pistils scarcely emergent, papillate, pale green to pale violet-purple; stigma ellipsoid, 0.3-0.5 mm long, brushlike, droplets appearing briefly before stamens emerge; stamens emerging from the base, lateral stamens followed by alternates in a rapid succession, the laterals preceding the alternates by 1-2 spirals, held over and obscuring the pistil; anthers pale yellow, 0.4- 0.5 mm long, 0.9-1 mm wide; thecae ellipsoid, brown, slightly divaricate; pollen pale yellow fading to creamy white. INFRUCTESCENCE pendent; spadix to 7 cm long, 2.5 cm diam.; berries bright orange, ovoid, beaked at apex, 6-9 mm long-, 5-6 mm diam.; mesocarp pulpy, orange; seeds 2 per berry, creamy white, ovoid-ellipsoid, 3-3.2 mm long, 2.2- 2.3 mm diam., 1.5 mm thick, enclosed in transparent, sticky envelope ca. 5 mm long, extending further beyond the apex than the base.