Araceae
Anthurium curtispadix Croat
SUMMARY
Stem to 21 cm long, ca. 3 cm diam.; leaf scars conspicuous or obscured by root mass, 0.5-1 cm high, 0.6-0.8 cm wide; roots ascending to spreading to descending, green to light brown (B & K yellow-red 9/7.5), smooth to sometimes weakly pubescent, tapered, elongate, 4-7 mm diam.; cataphylls subcoriaceous, weakly 1-ribbed near the apex, 5-8 cm long, narrowly acute and apiculate at apex, drying tan to reddish brown, persisting semi-intact, eventually as a reticulum of fibers with the apex remaining intact. LEAVES erect to spreading; petioles 3.5-14 cm long, 4-9 mm diam., D-shaped to C-shaped, slightly sulcate adaxially, with the margins sharply to obtusely raised, rounded to sometimes obscurely 1-2-ribbed abaxially, the surface obscurely short-lineate; geniculum paler and thicker than petiole, becoming minutely and transversely fissured and scurfy abaxially, (0.7)l-2.2 cm long; blades subcoriaceous, elliptic to oblanceolate, gradually acuminate at apex (the acumen apiculate), narrowly acute to obtuse to weakly rounded at base, 17-57 cm long, 7.5-20 cm wide, broadest at or above the middle, the margins weakly undulate; upper surface semiglossy, medium green, lower surface matte to weakly glossy, paler, drying greenish to yellowish green; midrib flat at base with blunt medial rib, narrowing and acute toward the apex above, convexly raised and paler than surface below; primary lateral veins 5-7 per side, departing midrib at 30-45° angle, ± straight, raised and weakly paler than surface above, convex below; interprimary veins absent; tertiary veins obscure above, visible below; reticulate veins obscure above, darker than surface below; collective vein arising from near the apex, weakly sunken above, prominulous below, 2-9 mm from margin. INFLORESCENCES spreading, usually several present at once; peduncle 5-10 cm long, 4 mm diam., equaling to usually ca. 0.5 x as long as petioles, green (B & K yellow-green 6/7.5), terete; spathe reflexed-spreading, coriaceous, pale green, sometimes weakly tinged with red (B & K yellow-green 8/10), oblong-lanceolate, 3-3.5 cm long, 1.5-2 cm wide, broadest in the lower ?, inserted at 75° angle on peduncle, gradually to abruptly acuminate at apex (the acumen inrolled, hooked), acute to decurrent at base, the margins strongly downturned, meeting at 60-80° angle; spadix pale, dull green, somewhat tinged with brown, sessile, cylindroid to sometimes weakly clavate, erect, held at ca. 90° angle from peduncle, 3.5-4.7 cm long, 6-7 mm diam. Near base, 3-4 mm diam. near apex, broadest at the base; flowers rhombic to 4-lobed, 1.7-2.3(2.6) mm long, 1.3-2.3 mm wide, the sides straight to jaggedly sigmoid; 13-15 flowers visible in principal spiral, 9 in alternate spiral; tepals matte, minutely papillate; lateral tepals 1.5-1.8 mm wide, the inner margins broadly rounded, the outer margins irregularly 3-sided; pistils weakly emergent, purplish violet; stigma linear, slitlike, 0.3 mm long; stamens emerging in a prompt, erratic sequence, the laterals extending to the apex in a scattered pattern before the 3rd stamen emerges, laterals followed by alternates in a rapid succession but very irregularly on the spadix (sometimes the 4th stamen appearing first); anthers white, 0.6 mm long, 0.7 mm wide, obscuring pistil; thecae ellipsoid, not divaricate; pollen drying white. INFRUCTESCENCE not seen.