Araceae
Anthurium darcyi Croat
SUMMARY
Epiphytic or terrestrial; stems erect, short, ca. 10 cm diam.; internodes short; cataphylls persisting semi-intact, 45 - 50 cm long, 10 - 12 cm wide, with the epidermis drying brown (B & K yellow 4/7.5), often with a mass of yellowish longitudinal fibers. LEAVES with petioles erect-spreading and blades somewhat pendent; petioles 75 - 180 cm long, 6 - 11 mm diam., flattened to broadly sulcate adaxially with prominent marginal ribs and a usually smaller medial rib, usually 3-ribbed adaxially, with additional smaller ribs around the circumference (up to a total of 10 ribs around the circumference including the 3 larger abaxial ribs), drying sharply many-angular, the surface brownish (same as cataphylls); geniculum ca. 1.6 cm long, drying darker than petiole, the ridges on the geniculum undulate; blades ovate-cordate, 80 - 105 cm long, 50 - 60 cm wide, 1.6 times longer than wide, broadest at point of petiole attachment, prominently lobed at base, acuminate to abruptly acuminate at apex; the margins broadly convex and undulate; anterior lobe 60 - 75 cm long, broadest near the base; the posterior lobes 25 - 30 cm long, 20 - 25 cm wide, directed toward the base then prominently curved inward, sometimes overlapping; sinus spathulate to oval, 20 - 23 cm deep; upper surface dark green and semiglossy, matte on drying, green-brown with conspicuous, punctiform whitish cellular inclusions; lower surface drying semiglossy and green-brown or brown with dense, minute dark markings and much larger punctiform gland-like dark projections; midrib prominently and acutely raised above, thicker than broad to prominently round-raised and winged below, drying darker than surface; basal veins 7 to 9 pairs, the 1st and 2nd, sometimes the 3rd, free to the base; the 4th to 5th and higher coalesced 4.5 - 7 cm, the remainder coalesced 2 - 3 cm; posterior ribs curved, prominently raised below, naked 8 - 10 cm along sinus; primary lateral veins 7 to 8 per side, departing midrib at 30 - 45° angle, ± straight to the margin in the lower part of the blade, more arcuate in the upper 1/3 of the blade, weakly quilted-sunken above, prominently and acutely raised to knife-edged, drying darker than surface below; interprimary veins almost as prominent as primary lateral veins; tertiary veins drying prominently raised below, prominulous above; reticulate veins visible on drying; collective veins arising from one of the lowermost basal veins, weakly raised on both surfaces, 1 - 5 mm from the margin. INFLORESCENCE pendent, peduncle 30 - 32 cm long, 0.8 - 1.0 cm diam., shorter than the petioles, drying brown, terete, pendent, weakly ribbed circumferentially with pale cellular inclusions; spathe 17 - 19 cm long, 3.5 - 4 cm wide, green, narrowly acuminate at apex (acumen to 2 cm long); spadix with stipe 15 - 23 mm long in front, 6 - 10 mm long in rear, cylindroid, 20 - 30 cm long, 2 - 3 cm diam. midway, weakly tapered toward both ends but mostly toward the apex, slightly curved, white at anthesis, becoming yellow to yellowish brown post anthesis, drying brown; flowers square, 1.2 - 2.5 mm wide in both directions, 25 to 40 flowers visible in principal spiral, 40 to 80 flowers visible in the alternate spiral; tepals drying matte, lateral tepals 0.5 - 0.7 mm wide, their inner margins slightly concave, the outer margins 2-sided, straight to weakly convex; pistils exserted, drying semiglossy; stigma circular to oblong, 0.3-0.5 mm long, depressed medially, the style conspicuous; anthers drying orange.