Anthurium bonplandii

George Bunting described Anthurium bonplandii in 1975, naming it after the botanist Aimé Bonpland. It belongs to section Pachyneurium, the bird's-nest anthuriums, and forms a short-stemmed rosette of thick, erect to arching leaves that collect leaf litter at the centre. Three subspecies are recognised: subsp. bonplandii with elliptic blades, subsp. guayanum from the Guiana Shield with oblanceolate to obovate blades, and subsp. cuatrecasasii from southeastern Colombia and western Venezuela. The most reliable field character is the dense scatter of dark glandular dots on the leaf underside, which separates it from A. jenmanii, the name it is most often sold under.

Native range

Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and northern Brazil (sandstone outcrops and premontane wet forest)

Classification

Genus

Anthurium

Family

Araceae

Type

Wild

Growth habit

Terrestrial bird's-nest rosette

Morphology

Leaf shape

Elliptic (subsp. bonplandii) to oblanceolate-obovate (subsp. guayanum), tapering to a narrow base

Leaf length

40-100 cm

Leaf width

15-40 cm

Petiole colour

Green, short and stout, C- to D-shaped in cross-section

Venation

Midrib broadly grooved at the base; primary veins raised, tertiary veins sunken above and raised below

Texture

Thick, coriaceous, semi-glossy above; paler below with dark glandular punctations

Variegation

N/A

Growth habit

Short-stemmed rosette with erect to arching leaves and reddish lanceolateLance-shaped leaves that are significantly longer than they are wide, tapering to a point at the tip. cataphylls