Anthurium benavidesae Croat

Epiphytic, usually appressed; internodes short, to 5 cm diam.; cataphylls to ca. 20 cm long, reddish brown, persisting as closely parallel tan fibers with tiny fragments of epidermis, remaining semi-organized for much of the length of the stem; petioles 60-168 cm long (averaging 116 cm), 8-12 mm diam. at middle, firm, terete, sometimes weakly sulcate, medium green, semiglossy, drying dark brown, smooth, terete, matte, slightly folded longitudinally; geniculum 2-3.5 cm long, scarcely visible on drying, slightly shrunken; blades ovate-sagittate, acuminate at apex, conspicuously sagittate at base with the lobes turned inward prominently and overlapping, 46-125 cm long, 28-84 cm wide (averaging 76 X 55 cm), 1.1-1.6 times longer than wide (averaging 1.32), .44-.94 times as long as petioles, moderately coriaceous, dark green and semiglossy above, moderately paler and almost matte below; margins sometimes undulate; anterior lobe 33-102 cm long, averaging 59.3 cm, broadly rounded along margins; posterior lobes 15-44 cm long, 11.3-32 cm wide; sinus closed, broader than long, 13.5-35 cm deep; midrib narrowly rounded and slightly paler above, narrowly rounded and moderately paler below; basal veins 7-9 pair, 1st (2nd) free to the base, the remainder variously coalesced for 13-18.5 cm, 5-6 of these acroscopic, 2-3 basiscopic; posterior rib prominent, markedly curved, naked for 13-18.5 cm, primary lateral veins surfaces markedly quilted, 5-7 per side, departing midrib at 45-50° angle, ascending to collective vein, bluntly acute and slightly paler in deep valleys above, acute and paler below, drying acute and concolorous above, acute and darker below; tertiary veins moderately obscure, in part darker than surface, mostly not raised upon drying; collective veins originating from one of lowermost basal veins, 2-5 mm from margin, drying etched on upper surface, narrowly raised on lower surface. INFLORESCENCES erect-spreading; peduncle round, short at anthesis, elongating to 47 cm long in fruit; spathe greenish cream outside, pink inside, 25 cm long, 11 cm wide, partly wrapped around spadix, drying brown; spadix pink turning rotten red, or bright red, pendulous, tapered, weakly stipitate, ca. 24 cm long, 35 mm diam. at base, 27 mm diam. at middle, 11 mm diam. at 1 from apex. Flowers 23- 25 visible per spiral, 2.4-2.6 mm long and wide; tepals drying dark brawn, conspicuously sparsely warty on outer surface, smooth on inner surface; lateral tepals 1.2- 1.6 mm wide, the outer margin 2-sided, the inner margin rounded, mostly held stiffly erect at least upon drying with all of the tepals together forming a tube with the pistil apex fully exposed; style 1.2-14 mm diam., circular and appear to be completely bisected by the slender sunken stigma. INFRUCTESCENCES to ca. 45 cm long, 6 cm diam., with stipe ca. 2 cm long; berries red, mostly overtopped by the tepals in dried condition.