Décorfolia newsletter

22 January 2002

Anthurium

Anthuriums, sometimes called Flamingo flower, come from a large genus of about 900 species of evergreen, native to the damp tropical and subtropical forests of America. A large proportion of these bright plants are epiphytic, i.e they lodge on other plants and get nourishment and moisture from the atmosphere.

With their large glossy, arrow or spear shaped leaves and plastic like flowers, sometimes growing to an over all height of one metre, we are often asked by our customers if they are artificial. Believe me though these beauties are very real and not that easy to care for as they require much warmth and light to keep them flowering. Something which is lacking in a lot of our contracts... If they do get the right atmosphere though the flowers can last for many months.

Anthurium andraeanum and it's hybrids, native of Colombia and Ecuador are predominantly the type we use because of their large flowers. Available in bright red (most common), pale pink, white, red with green and sometimes mauve. In the picture above we show Décorfolia's preferred way of displaying them, a glass vase with living hydroculture specimen. The vases are available in many sizes, shapes and colours to best suit your requirements and the plants, but, as with most things we are very adaptable and can display them in conventional pots as well...

Anthurium scherzerianum from Costa Rica and Guatemala grows to about half the size of the above mentioned A. andraeanum but is as showy all the same. The leaves are much more elongated and the flowers less heart shaped but more elliptical with twisted orange red spadices.

Another type of Anthurium which is sometimes available is Anthurium crystallinum, also from Colombia. This velvety, deep green leaved (pale bronze when young), with prominent white veins is prized as a foliage plant and grows to about half a metre tall when mature.