Anthurium suffusum Croat & O.Ortiz, 2016

Ortiz, Orlando O. & Croat, Thomas B., 2016, New Species of Anthurium section Calomystrium from Costa Rica and Panama, Phytotaxa 257 (1), pp. 34-50 : 46

Anthurium suffusum Croat & O.Ortiz , sp. nov. ( Figs. 7–8 )

Species characterized by its terrestrial habit, short internodes, persisting semi-intact brownish red cataphylls, completely terete petioles, ovate-sagittate brownish green-drying prominently acuminate blades with a parabolic sinus, 5–6 pairs of basal veins, the 1 st and sometimes 2 nd pair free to the base, a curved posterior rib which is naked throughout most of its length, 5 pairs of primary lateral veins, collective veins usually from the 1 st pair of basal veins as well as by a short-pedunculate inflorescence with a white, somewhat hooded spathe with a lavender band along both margins inside as well as by a cylindroid cream-colored spadix.

Type: — PANAMÁ. Provincia de Panamá: Cerro Jefe, carretera hacia los Altos de Pacora , 700 m, 9°13’N, 79°21’W, 16 Mayo 2013, Orlando O. Ortiz, Laurencio Martínez, Alvin Zapata & Samuel Valdés 2399 (holotype, PMA!; isotype, MO!) .

Terrestrial herb; internodes short, to 3 cm diam.; cataphylls 8–10 cm long, persisting semi-intact, brownish red; petioles 47 cm long, 7 mm diam., totally terete, lacking sulcus or ribs; geniculum 2 cm long; blades ovate-sagittate, 45 × 30 cm, 1.5 times longer than wide, 0.95 times as long as petioles, acute to narrowly rounded and abruptly long-acuminate at apex, deeply lobed at base, subcoriaceous, semiglossy on both surfaces, drying brownish green on both surfaces, drying weakly glossy above, semiglossy below; anterior lobe 27–35.5 cm long, broadly convex in lower ½ of blade, concave or straight toward the apex; posterior lobes 8.5–12.5 × 8.5–10.5 cm, narrowly rounded; sinus parabolic, 8.7 cm deep, 12 cm wide; basal veins 5–6 pairs, 1 st pair free to the base, 2 nd free to the base or sometimes fused 1 cm; 3 rd pair fused to 2.2–3.5 cm; 4 th & 5 th fused 3.5–5.0 cm; posterior rib curved, naked 5.5 cm long; midrib prominently raised and triangular and concolorous above, round-raised and paler below, drying with an acute medial rib and 1–2 additional marginal ribs below; primary lateral veins 5 pairs, arising at 50° angle, weakly sunken above, drying narrowly rounded, weakly raised, concolorous above, acute and darker on the lower surface; collective veins 0.2–0.4 mm from the margin, arising from the 1 st pair of basal veins but weakly loop-connected from the 2 nd, 3 rd and even 4 th pairs of basal veins; tertiary veins prominulous, the reticulum close with areoles closely and clearly granular. Inflorescenc e short-pedunculate; peduncle 4.0 cm long, drying 4.0 mm diam.; spathe 9–10 × 2.5–3.5 cm, naviculiform, somewhat hooded spadix with the apex pointed laterally, matte, creamy white with the inner surface tinged with lavender along the margins, the outer surface pale green; spadix 6 cm long, 7 mm diam., cylindroid-fusiforme, cream-colored, matte; flowers 7–12 visible in the principal spiral, 7–8 in the alternate spiral, 1.8 × 2.3 mm. Berries not seen.

Eponymy:— The species epithet suffusum is from the Latin “ suffusus ” meaning “tinged” referring to the second color tinged along the margins of the inside of the spathe.

Distribution:— Anthurium suffusum is endemic to Panama, known only from Cerro Jefe in Panamá Province.

Habitat and Ecology:— This species grows at 700 m in a Premontane rain forest life zone according to Holdridge et al. (1971).

Phenology:— Found in flower in May. Further investigations are required to determine the exact phenology.

Conservation status:— Anthurium suffusum should be listed as Data Deficient (DD) according IUCN Red List criteria ( IUCN 2001).

Discussion:— Anthurium suffusum could be confused with A. formosum and A. sanctifidense , all of which have similar leaf blades and spadix shape. Anthurium formosum also differs by petioles subterete, sulcate adaxially (vs. petioles totally terete, lacking sulcus), white or violet spathes (vs. spathes creamy white with the inner surface tinged with lavender along the margins) and violet-purple spadix at anthesis (vs. spadix cream-colored); A. sanctifidense differs by having blades drying dark brown with short pale-lines in the upper surfaces (vs. blades drying brownish green and lacking short pale-lines in the upper surfaces), longer (7.0–36.0 cm long) peduncles (versus peduncles shorter 4.0 cm long) and totally pale green to greenish white or white spathes (vs. spathes creamy white tinged with lavender).

In the Lucid Anthurium key ( Haigh et al. 2009) A. suffusum tracks to A. buganum Engler (1898: 425) , which differs by having all the basal veins free to the base (vs. not all basal veins free to the base, only first or second pairs of basal veins free) and the sinus much narrower; to A. fusiforme Croat (1986: 102) , differing by its fusiform spadix (vs. spadix cylindroid-fusiforme) and collective veins arising from the primary lateral veins (vs. collective veins arising from the first pair of basal veins); to A. hoffmannii , differing by having a pinkish or greenish yellow spadix (vs. spadix cream-colored) and with the upper surface densely paler short-lineate (vs. upper surface lacking pale short-lines) and to A. obtusilobum , differing by having blades which are conspicuously short-pale lineate on the upper surface and have the collective veins arising from the lower basal veins (vs. collective veins arising from the first pair of basal veins).

Figures

FIGURE 7. Anthurium suffusum Croat & O. Ortiz. Holotype specimen: Panama. Provincia de Panamá: Cerro Jefe, carretera hacia los Altos de Pacora, 700 m, 9°13’N, 79°21’W, 16 mayo 2013, Orlando O. Ortiz, Laurencio Martínez, Alvin Zapata & Samuel Valdés 2399 (Photo MO Herbarium).

FIGURE 8. Anthurium suffusum (Ortiz, Martínez, Zapata & Valdés 2399). A. Leaf blades. B. Flowering spadix. C. Spathe (outer surface). D. Spathe (inner surface) (Photo Orlando O. Ortiz).