Anthurium paludosum (Araceae)
Epiphyte; stems to 30 cm long; roots numerous, grayish-green, smooth, descending; cataphylls coriaceous, 5-6 cm long, persisting ± intact, drying brown, ultimately deciduous. LEAVES spreading-pendent; petioles 3-14 cm long, 3-5 mm diam., D-shaped to subterete, broadly and obtusely sulcate; geniculum 1-1.5 cm long; blades narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, subcoriaceous, 10-38 cm long, 3-13.5 cm wide, short-acuminate at apex, acute to attenuate (rarely obtuse to subrounded) at base; both surfaces semiglossy, sparsely punctate; midrib convexly raised above and below, sunken at apex above; primary lateral veins 12-14 per side, departing midrib at 40° angle, sometimes weakly sunken, usually ± obscure on upper surface, prominulous on lower surface; collective vein arising from the base and extending ± straight to apex, 3-12 mm from margin, flat and nearly obscure on upper surface, prominulous on lower surface. INFLORESCENCE erect-spreading, shorter than leaves; peduncle 7.5-15.5 cm long, 3-5 mm diam., terete, tinged red-violet; spathe moderately thin, whitish to green or purplish, withering soon after anthesis, oblong-lanceolate, 5.5-7 cm long, 4-14 mm wide, acuminate at apex, rounded at base, inserted at ca. 60° angle on peduncle; spadix green, tinged orange, becoming violet-purple, 8-14.5 cm long, 6-7 mm diam. at middle, scarcely tapered at apex; flowers rhombic, 2.8-3.2 mm long, 2.5-2.7 mm wide, the sides straight or weakly sigmoid; 5-6 flowers visible in the principal spiral, 7-9 flowers visible per alternate spiral; tepals matte to semiglossy, tinged violet-purple at outer margins, lateral tepals 1.9-2 mm long, the inner margin broadly rounded; pistils green, weakly emergent; stigma linear; stamens emerging from base, the lateral stamens emerging with only the apex of the anther visible, retracting before alternate stamens emerge, leaving only traces of white pollen. INFRUCTESCENCE with spadix 6-25 cm long; berries orange, red-orange, or white tinged with orange, ± globose to ovoid, 4-6 mm diam.; seeds 3-4, ellipsoid-oblong; 2-2.5 mm long, yellowish, except green on one end.
Known from Costa Rica to Ecuador. It ranges along the Atlantic slope only west of the Isthmus of Panama. To the east of the Isthmus of Panama it occurs on both slopes until reaching South America, where it is restricted to the Pacific slope.
The species occurs in wetter parts of tropical moist forest and premontane wet and tropical wet forest life zones.