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Anthurium cuneatissimum (Engl.) Croat,

Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 70: 285. 1983 [1984].

Anthurium consobrinum var. cuneatissimum Engl., Pflanzenr. 4(23B): 176. 1905. TYPE: Costa Rica. Lim—n: Llanuras de Santa Clara, 250 m, Donnell-Smith 6811 (B, holotype; US, isotype).
 Epiphyte; stems very short; cataphylls drying tan, weathering into longitudinal fibers; petioles usually quadrangular with sharp edges, sometimes bluntly angular abaxially, often with a sharp medial rib abaxially, 6-32(-40) cm long, 5-7 mm wide; blades obovate-elliptic, subcoriaceous; (20-)25-60 cm long, 8.5-21 cm wide, acute to cuneate at base. Inflorescence erect-spreading; peduncle 21-58 cm long, sharply 1-ribbed abaxially, 2÷4-ribbed from base to just above middle; spathe ovate, cucullate, dark green, coriaceous, 2.5-6(-9) cm long, 2.1-4 cm wide; spadix sessile, white to pale yellow-green or lemon yellow, 1.9-5 cm long, ca. 8 mm diam. midway; berries greenish yellow to white, ovoid, 4-4.3 mm long, 2.5 mm thick; seeds 2. See Croat (1983: 285) for a more complete description.

Anthurium cuneatissimum is known from Nicaragua to Panama in tropical wet forest life zones from 20 to 450 m in Costa Rica and Nicaragua and at much higher elevations (800 to 1,000 m) in Panama.

The species is in section Pachyneurium and is distinguished by its long, sharply margined petiole, its broad leaf blade, its cucullate, coriaceous, ovate spathe, and its short, clavate, lemon yellow to white spadix. The species may be confused with Anthurium spathiphyllum where they occur together, such as at the La Selva Preserve in Costa Rica. Both species have a short clavate spadix, but A. spathiphyllum differs in having narrower leaves with 20-30 prominently sunken primary lateral veins (versus five to 15 scarcely sunken veins in A. cuneatissimum). In addition, A. spathiphyllum commonly has three-sided petioles and a spathe that is lanceolate and about twice as long as the spadix. In A. cuneatissimum, the spathe is ovate and as long as the spadix.

Map of Mesoamerican specimens with coordinates

Costa Rica Alajuela: 250 m, 10.21N 84.28W, 27 Jun 1985, B. Hammel, E. Bello & W. Haber 14032 (MO).
Costa Rica Lim—n: 150 m, 09.39N 83.02W, 1 August 1985, Michael H. Grayum, B. Hammel, L. Bermúdez & R. Acosta 5810 (MO).
PanamaCOCLE: vicinity Lim6n, N of El Copé, Folsom 5815 (MO, PMA).
PanamaCOLON: area of Río Miguel near Guasimo, Croat 9902 (MO, PMA, SEL).