Anthurium Barklee ?

Anthurium Barklee – Caribbean Basin is name on the tag. Being as there is no such name listed I again have a mystery Anthurium. As a starting point the closest name I was able to find is A.Barclayanum. Unfortunately while this taxon is highlighted under, “Anthurium Nomenclature & References, Croat, 1999”, the link is not viable. Nor have I come up with a description elsewhere on the net save a sole image from Triad Plant Co. in Delray. http://www.triadplantco.com/listplants-details.php?type=ANTHURIUM.

Thus I once again cry out for assistance. I’ll start this series of images with the first image of the whole plant, soda can for scale, followed by my descriptions. The most striking feature of this plant is the length of the petioles ant length of the lamina. The longest blade is 40” (101cm) with a 15” (38cm) petiole.

Scott

The blade is lancolate with undulate margins and an acuminate tip, medium green and lightly glossy both adaxially and abaxially, slightly bicolorus and thinly coriaceous.

This message was edited Jun 4, 2010 3:40 PM

The adaxial midrib is moderately raised with a single, sharp longitudinal ridge. primary lateral veins number 18 on each side of the midrib and mimic the midrib with no obvious collective vein. Tertiary veins very faint.

This message was edited Jun 4, 2010 3:08 PM

The abaxial midrib is prominently raised slightly trapezoid to square in shape with 2 sharp angles and a flat abaxial surface. Primary lateral veins also sharply raised with tertiary veins quite visible.

This message was edited Jun 4, 2010 3:09 PM

Adaxial surface of geniculum approx. 1” in length

Abaxial geniculum image showing trapezoid shape

Petiole image show adaxial sulcate surface. Cross section would show general trapezoid shape with flat sharp abaxial and side surfaces and a concave adaxial surface with sharp raised ridges where this surface joins with the sides.

Cataphyll is light green with a raised center rib.

Cataphyll turns light brown with age and deteriorates to a fiberous mass of strings.

Finally, emerging roots with prominent root caps. Thanks for looking and good luck hunting.

Scott

Scott, is it possible this plant is a hybrid? Some of the characteristics are a good match to Anthurium schlechtendalii.

Here is a list of things to look for to determine if the plant is at least partially Anthurium schlechtendalii. This species is variable and these characteristics may not always remain stable but these are the norms:

The roots should be a thick greenish mass with each root approximately 3 to 8 mm diameter.

The cataphylls should be moderately thick as well as 7.5 to 16 cm long. It will emerge green but once it dies will dry brown and then persist on the petiole as a mass of fibers.

The petioles that support the leaves should be app. 12 to 23 cm long but in almost all cases will be trapezoidal at the bottom of the petiole. When imagining the trapezoid look at the petiole as if you had cut it in half and are looking at it as s cross section. The petiole may sometimes be sharply bluntly ribbed and also have widest on the upper surface. Be sure and look for shallow grooves running parallel to each other. This known as being sulcate and may require a magnifying glass to see well.

The geniculum will be 1 to 2 cm long.

The leaf should be widest near or above middle with both the upper and lower surfaces matte to semiglossy. Look at the big vein in the middle of the leaf known as the midrib. The upper surface should be flat to weakly rounded near the base of the leaf. Sometimes it is weakly ribbed at the apex or tip of the leaf but it will be square at base on the underside but rounds as it approaches the tip of the leaf. There should be 15 to 16 primary lateral venison each side if the upper side of the leaf and those veins will be raised on both the upper and lower surfaces. The minor veins will be scarcely visible. You will also notice a collective vein near the edge (margin) of the leaf That collective vein should begin from the tip of a primary lateral vein about one quarter down from the tip blade and will run about 2 to 5 mm from edge (margin) of the leaf. The collective vein will be sunk on the upper side of the blade but raised on the underside.

The peduncle that is the stalk that is supporting your inflorescence should measure approximately 33 to 43 cm long and should be round but at places also weakly flattened as well as ribbed. The spathe should feel leathery as well as green but heavily tinged with violet/purple. Generally it is lance shaped but is something that didn’t appear quite right to me. If you have seen the berries on the spadix they will always be red.

Some characteristics appear to be another Pachyneurium species but lets try to match or eliminate this one first. I have specimens with both very wide and very narrow blades.

Steve

My first question is, is this plant one of those you obtained from the Mom & Pop nursery, the plants that were long neglected? Reason is, although you have the plant in a basket and it appears to have droopy leaves, that may not be the normal habit of the plant at all. I have two lanceolate Anthuriums that are very healthy and hold their leaves strictly upright. I wonder how yours will look after it has been receiving proper care for a year or two. Too much shade can make these long-leaf upright types kind of floppy and lengthen the petioles as well. Mine are in regular nursery pots.

LariAnn

LariAnn, Yep it sure is and that thought came to me also, although right next to it was a 'Fruffles' that looked normal and compact in all respects. No question though that the plant is misshapen in terms of its growth habit. I'm trying to take that into account and just keying on the identifiable characters.

Honestly I have a feeling that as you said time is going to be needed to ID this thing.

Steve, it is certainly possible that this plant is a hybrid being as I have no clue to it’s ascension.

Your suggestion of trying to eliminate A. schlechtendalii is a good way to approach this and I cannot say with any certainty that that it is not A. schlechtendalii. It seems to most resemble Anthurium schlechtendalii ssp. Jimenezii.

However, a major difference is the adaxial midrib which on this plant has a very sharp raised rib running the length of the midrib. Another difference is the number of primary lateral veins. Here is where I run into a problem of lack of experience in trying to give botanical description.

When counting the lateral primaries I include the faint veins starting at the acumuinate leaf base. I can tell the difference between primary laterals and interprimary veins but it gets a bit difficult for me to decide where to start the count at the base. My plant has between 18-22 consistently, Anthurium schlechtendalii ssp. Jimenezii, is described as having 9-14.

Unfortunately this plant has not yet shown an inflorescence. I may well have to wait for one to gather further characters with which to ID this plant.

If you have any further thoughts rest assured that I WANT to hear them. Having been in the horticulture industry for a couple decades in the past, taking a decade off and now returning to horticulture as a hobbyist I have learned more, remembered more, researched more in the past couple weeks than I have in years and love it.

As always thanks for your efforts

Scott

Scott, the plant appears to be a descent match to Anthurium schlechtendalii subsp. jimenezii (Matuda) Croat

I can't find much on the subspecies but did find this in Tom's notes:

Growing on rocky ravine; petiole quadrangular; flat adaxially, the margins sharply erect, the sides more or less parallel, flat abaxially; midrib flat and weakly ribbed at base, obtusely angular toward apex, the midrib slightly paler on lower surface, sharply trapezoidal, more or less rounded toward the apex, upper surface semiglossy, the lower surface with the tertiary veins distinct, darker than the surface.

I also found this photo on TROPICOS

Steve

The infructescence is distinctive when compared to a more normal plant but that isn't saying a great deal since the "normal" plant shows so much variation.

Steve

I do notice that on the TROPICOS picture, the main vein is rounded on the surface, while on Scott's plant it is not rounded, but sharp or angular (as Scott pointed out above).

LariAnn

Scott, I found all of this on the Royal Botanic Garden Kew's CATE Araceae.

All was written by Dr. Tom Croat at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Since I know you have a good understanding of the way a scientific description is constructed I have made no comments, I am simply quoting.

Right up front I apologize to anyone that finds botany "impossible" to understand. Although on another thread one person was unhappy with the use of science to attempt an ID of a plant, on that thread I did not say the plant that turned out to be something else was the plant name I presented. I simply said it resembled the adult form of a known species. Those that don't want to use science will likely find this info useful and may want to avoid anything I post in the future.

Some of us want to understand more than the common name and do enjoy knowing the true name of a species. I try to help those folks that want to learn. In order to do that accurately you must compare the scientific description to the plant. I realize some folks think I am throwing around the names of scientists to make myself look "big", but infact, it is a common courtesy in science to credit others for their information. If some believe I am trying to make myself appear to be "important", again I apologize.

Promise, to most this will be boring reading!

Steve

From CATE Araceae

Anthurium schlechtendalii subsp jimenezii

Usually terrestrial or epilithic; stem less than 30 cm long, ca. 3-4 cm diam.; roots numerous, dense, ascending to descending, tan to greenish, usually smooth, short and thick, tapered, 5-10 mm diam.; cataphylls subcoriaceous, broadly lanceolate, 6-7 cm long, acute to obtuse and weakly apiculate at apex, light green tinged with red, drying brown, persisting ± intact at the upper nodes, eventually deciduous.

LEAVES erect-spreading; petioles 2-17 cm long, 8-10 mm diam., subquadrangular to trapezoidal, flattened to broadly and sharply sulcate adaxially, the margins somewhat raised, 2-3-ribbed abaxially, the surface minutely pale-speckled; geniculum paler and thicker than petiole, becoming fissured transversely with age, 1-2 cm long; blades moderately coriaceous, oblanceolate to oblong-oblanceolate, acute to acuminate at apex (the acumen apiculate), acute to obtuse to narrowly rounded at base, 36-104 cm long, 6-32 cm wide, broadest well above the middle, the margins undulate; both surfaces glossy to semiglossy, dark green above, paler, sometimes bluish green below; midrib above flat at base, becoming obtusely to acutely angular and then weakly sunken toward the apex, below prominently higher than broad and sharply 2-ribbed at base, becoming prominently and convexly raised toward the apex and paler than surface: primary lateral veins 9-14 per side, departing midrib at 50-70° angle, weakly arcuate-ascending, raised at the midrib, becoming sunken toward the margin above, prominently raised and darker than surface below, much more prominent than interprimary veins; interprimary veins weakly sunken above, prominulous below; tertiary veins weakly sunken above, weakly raised and darker than surface below; collective vein arising in the lower half or in the upper third of blade or absent, flat to weakly sunken above, prominulous below, 2-4 mm from margin.

INFLORESCENCES erect, shorter than leaves; peduncle 10-54 cm long, equalling or 2-3.4 x as long as petiole, medium green weakly tinged reddish, terete; spathe

spreading, subcoriaceous to moderately coriaceous, green weakly tinged with purple (B & K yellow-green 6/5), lanceolate, 4-8.5 cm long, 1-2.5 cm wide, broadest just above the base, inserted at 30° angle on peduncle, oblique and narrowly acuminate at apex (the acumen inrolled), subcordate at base; spadix greenish tinged with purple (B & K yellow-green 6/5), weakly and bluntly tapered, curved, 3.5-14 cm long, 5-17 mm diam. near base, 2-5 mm diam. near apex; Bowers rhombic to 4-lobed, 2.1-2.6 mm long, 2.7-2.9 mm wide, the sides straight to jaggedly sigmoid; 10-12 flowers visible in principal spiral, 6-8
in alternate spiral; tepals densely and minutely papillate, sparsely punctate, with numerous droplets at anthesis; lateral tepals 0.8-1.5 mm wide, the inner margins straight to very broadly convex, the outer margins 2-4-sided; pistils weakly emergent, medium green, darker than tepals; stigma oblong ellipsoid, 0.3-0.5 mm long; stamens emerging promptly in a regular sequence from the base, the laterals preceding the alternates by 6 spirals, the 3rd stamen preceding the 4th by 3 spirals, held just above tepals in a
circle around the pistil; anthers conspicuously white to pale orange (B & K yellow 9/5), 0.7-0.8 mm long, 0.8-1 mm wide, inclined over the pistil; thecae oblong-ellipsoid to ovoid, 0.5 mm wide, slightly or not divaricate; pollen bright yellow fading to white. INFRUCTESCENCE pendent; berries red, oblong-ellipsoid, rounded at apex, 11 mm long, 9 mm diam.; mesocarp with numerous dense raphide cells; seeds 2 per berry, tan, oblong-ellipsoid, flattened, 6 mm long, 4 mm diam., 2 mm thick, with pale punctiform raphide cells, with a sticky, gelatinous apical appendage.

Croat, T.B. 1991. A revision of Anthurium Section Pachyneurium (Araceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 78 (3): 539-855 pp. 723-724.,Altitude250 to 1,500(2,325) m. Croat, T.B. 1991. A revision of Anthurium Section Pachyneurium (Araceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 78 (3): 539-855 pp. 723-724.,

PhenologyHabitatSeasonally very dry forest ("selva baja
cauducifolia" and "bosque del pino-encino"). Croat, T.B. 1991. A revision of Anthurium Section Pachyneurium (Araceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 78 (3): 539-855 pp. 723-724.

Subspecies jimenezii is recognized by its exclusively terrestrial or epilithic habit, thick,
oblanceolate leaf blades with usually free-ending primary lateral veins, purplish spadix, green, lanceolate spathe, and red berries. This subspecies is geographically isolated from the typical subspecies of A. schlechtendalii, which is found in Veracruz and northern Oaxaca and also on the eastern side of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, but not in western Oaxaca. Subspecies jimenezii differs from the typical subspecies in being generally smaller, occurring exclusively on rocks and in habitats seasonally much drier, and in having usually thicker leaf blades. Matuda (1961) stressed that the taxon has peduncles relatively much longer than those of A. schlechtendalii. While it is generally true that the
inflorescences of subsp. jimenezii are commonly as long as or longer than the leaves, they may also be much shorter.

Subspecies jimenezii is also similar to Anthurium halmoorei, which differs in having an
ovate to ovate-elliptic spathe and mature berries that are pale greenish yellow. Also similar is A. nizandense, which is endemic to southern Guerrero and southern Oaxaca. Anthurium nizandense differs in having proportionately much longer petioles and elliptic to oblong-elliptic blades that are matte on the lower surface. In A. nizandense the blades are 1.3-2.5 times longer than the petioles, whereas in A. schlechtendalii subsp. jimenezii they are usually 6-10 times longer (rarely only as little as 3 times longer).


This message was edited Jun 6, 2010 7:56 AM

Thanks for the digging, Steve!

This whole description is even more detailed than the one in "Revisions of the Genus...Croat"

Well, this portion of the descripition (along with the rest of it) pretty well clinches it for me...'midrib above flat at base, becoming obtusely to acutely angular...", at least until an inflorence gives a new set of identifying characters to work with I beleive I will be satisfied calling this plant Anthurium schlechtendalii subsp jimenezii.


I have started to find my way around the IAS site pretty well and am working on TROPICOS but I haven't ventured very far in CATE yet.

Thanks again, Scott

Scott, this is one of the most valuable sources that can be found...........anywhere!

This is the link to CATE Aracea: http://www.cate-araceae.org/index.do;jsessionid=96982249A0181F1EB1E74E6CEB9841D4

When you try to log on you are immediately going to be told by MicroSoft the site is dangerous! Hogwash! The site is the Royal Botanic Garden Kew in London but some "internet Cop" is trying to force them to buy a "certificate". I verified this directly with the guy that runs their website system. Because they won't relent and pay the fee MicroSoft is now declaring this valuable scientific resource as "dangerous"!

How many truly dangerous sites do all of us come across all the time???? This is pure bunk but is a way for someone to make money.

Ignore all the warnings and dive in, there is absolutely nothing dangerous on the site.
When they try to tell you not to use the site just click on the thing and go where you want. The chances are high you will get another warning every time you change pages!

Look to the left of the page. You will see the KEY for both Anthurium and Philodendron species. This is a bit difficult to master but if you have the same info you normally gather you can put all that info into the system and it will come up with a list of possible species names.

Now, if you type the genus into the search you will get an entire list of accepted species name. If you also want to see all the synonym names just change the search priorities in the box.

Once you have the list look through it (use the left and right click up in the box) and find the name you want to see. Not all will have complete details but many do.

Click on description and see if something pops up. Often you will get the original description. Now click on Discussion and you may find more info. A map should come up to show you where the species is found naturally and if you want to look for synonym names that is normally available as well.

Now, I know I'm probably going to get nailed for revealing this by those that believe I am a publicity hound but I have been corresponding with a number of researchers and scientists at Kew for 5 years and was one of the people originally asked some years ago to offer ideas on how this site should work. One of my suggestions was that every scientific description for every aroid species ever published should be easily available to the public. I have no idea if my idea was used but many of those descriptions can finally be found online via this site! I at least would like to think I had a part!

Before this site went online I used to drive Dr. Croat and some of the scientists at Kew nuts begging for descriptions but now many are easily downloaded! Use it! The site is great. And if possible, try to learn to use the LUCID research system. I am not fluid with it yet but i try to use it all the time. Tom has done a couple of seminars on how to use the system (he was one of the designers) and I have been tutored in his office on at one time. I think he will do a seminar again in September in Miami so be there. CATE makes finding good info simple by comparison to what we used to have.

I think you are very right in this variation is likely what you are growing but when you finally see the inflorescence you will know for sure!

Steve

Sorry for the typos! My spell check just blew up on the computer and with Dyslexia I often cannot see things I don't spell correctly.

This message was edited Jun 5, 2010 5:02 PM

Great link Steve!

I'm enjoying this very educational thread!

Aloha, Dave

Hey Dave! You need to come be with us in Miami this year! Figure out a way to bill it to a client since you have so much aroid research to do in Hawaii! If you were to learn how to use LUCID well that would help you figure out Philodendron and Anthurium species in the state much faster!

When Tom did the last seminar at MOBOT I was there but we all got caught out in a thunderstorm while walking to his office that turned out to be a tornado that hit a mall just a short distance from MOBOT! Since I'm in a wheelchair we ran for cover (the greenhouse was the closest place) and I never made it back to Tom;s office for the complete seminar! I'm about to ask Tom for certain if he will do the seminar again in Miami!

If enough of us get our heads around LUCID we can all help each other to learn! Of course, that means we're going to have to teach a bunch of terms to aroid growers!

Keep adding input. Your training is a valuable asset on Dave's! I too enjoy threads that are educational and often learn from LariAnn, Brian, Scott and others that are hungry for info. Digging this stuff out of the woodwork is fun, at least to me!

Steve