Anthurium panamense Croat

Usually epiphytic, sometimes terrestrial on steep banks or on rocks; stems to ca. 60 cm long, 2-3.5 cm diam., leaf scars to 4 cm diam.; internodes short or to 2 cm long; cataphylls 14-25 cm long, moderately coriaceous, sometimes weakly striate, acute and apiculate at apex, green, sometimes tinged with purple, drying brownish, caducous or weathering toward the base, then deciduous. LEAVES with petioles brittle, semi-erect, 60-90 cm long, 8-12 mm diam. midway, narrowly and sharply sulcate adaxially, weakly striate longitudinally around the circumference, green sometimes tinged with purple; geniculum 3-4 cm long, shaped like petiole, smooth or weakly ribbed; blades coriaceous, epunctate, usually oblong-ovate, sometimes narrowly ovate, acuminate at apex, deeply cordate at base, 52-85 cm long, 17-52 cm wide, broadest well below the middle, the margin more or less straight; anterior lobe 40-80 cm long, broadly convex along the margin; posterior lobes directed basally, 10-24 cm long (from point of petiole attachment to outermost point); sinus usually obovate, generally closed, sometimes hippocrepiform, obtuse to rounded at apex; upper surface matte to semiglossy, weakly velvety and somewhat bullate, drying matte; lower surface matte, slightly paler; midrib prominently raised above, sharply acute, becoming narrower than high in the apical part of the blade, prominently raised beneath, often weakly ribbed; basal veins 5-8 pairs, the first free, the second usually free (approaching petiole at a broad angle approximately 90°), the third rarely free, usually coalesced 1-2 cm with the fourth and higher order veins, the remaining basal veins coalesced to varying degrees, mostly 3-6 cm; posterior rib naked, slightly curved; primary lateral veins 11-20 per side, prominently sunken above, prominently raised beneath; interprimary veins present, usually much less conspicuous than the primary lateral veins; secondary veins in part sunken above; tertiary veins drying prominulous on the lower surface; collective vein arising usually from the second or third basal vein, often prominently loop-connected from the lowermost basal veins, mostly 3-6 mm from the margin, rarely to 10 mm. INFLORESCENCE much shorter than the leaves, usually stiffly erect at anthesis; peduncle 23-42 cm long, one-third to one-half as long as the petioles, terete, smooth, sometimes tinged with purple; spathe green to yellowish green, sometimes tinged with purple (at least on veins), brittle, strongly reflexed and sometimes twisted, oblong-lanceolate, 11-20 cm long, 1.1-3.8 cm wide, broadest just above the base, acuminate at apex, acute at the base, inserted at ca. 45° angle on peduncle; spadix creamy white becoming purplish violet in age, elongate, gradually tapered, 15-25 cm long, 1-1.6 cm diam. near the base, 7-9 mm diam. near the apex, the apex rounded; flowers rhombic, 1.6-2.5 cm long (dried), 1-2.1 mm wide, 19-24 flowers visible in the principal spiral, 14-15 flowers visible in the alternate spiral, the sides sigmoid; tepals epunctate, the lateral tepals 0.3-0.7 mm wide, the inner margin broadly rounded to straight, drying thin. the alternate margin drying prominently upturned, appearing concave; pistils weakly emergent at or slightly after anthesis; stamens weakly exserted above the tepals, filaments weakly exposed, much broader than the anthers, held in a relatively tight cluster around and obscuring the pistil; anthers creamy white, 0.4 mm long, 0.3-0.4 mm wide; thecae not divaricate; pollen whitish. INFRUCTESCENCE 30-40 cm long, 2.5-3.5 cm diam. with berries exposed, berries red, oblong-ellipsoid, 9-10 mm long, 3.5-4.5 mm diam., blunt at both ends, densely arrayed with slender, linear, raphide cells in the apical half; seeds 1-2, oblong-elliptic, 3-3.5 mm long, 1.7-2 mm wide, 1.1-1.2 mm thick, appendaged at one or both ends, sometimes enveloping the entire seed.