The glossy red 'flower' of an anthurium is really a modified leaf
Anthurium is the biggest genus in the arum family, with about 1,000 species from Mexico to Argentina. What looks like a shiny red petal is a bract called the spathe, and the true flowers are tiny dots spiralling up a spike. Only two species naturally produce that famous scarlet.
Heinrich Wilhelm Schott named the genus in 1829, and its many nicknames include tailflower, flamingo flower, pigtail plant and laceleaf. Wild anthuriums grow from northern Mexico to northern Argentina and on some Caribbean islands, frequently perched on other plants as epiphytes, though some root in the ground. Leaves come in varied shapes and often cluster together.
The structure that sells the plant has two parts. The spadix, usually a spike but sometimes a globe or club, carries densely packed spirals of minute flowers, each containing both male and female organs. Beneath it sits the spathe, lance-shaped in many species, which may lie flat, curve, or hood over the spike. Pollinated flowers become juicy berries of varied colours, typically holding two seeds.
Growers focus almost entirely on those two parts. Anthurium andraeanum, native to Colombia and Ecuador, and A. scherzerianum are the only species with bright red spathes, and breeders have coaxed many other colours and patterns from them. Others, such as A. clarinervium, are grown for velvety dark leaves with silvery veins. Indoors they like 16 to 22 degrees Celsius, moist organic soil and less light than most houseplants, and climbing kinds appreciate a support to scramble up. Commercial nurseries multiply them mainly through tissue culture rather than seed or cuttings.
Every part of the plant, from root to seed, contains insoluble calcium oxalate crystals. The sap irritates skin and eyes, and chewing it can cause mouth pain, swelling and drooling in cats, dogs and even horses. Classification has kept pace with discovery: in 1860 science knew 183 species, which Schott split into 28 sections; a 1905 revision used 18, and the genus was reorganised again in 1983.
Source: Anthurium
