Your plant is a cultivar of Anthurium andreanum. All the hybridized Anthurium plants that produce a similar color spathe and spadix were created from that base species. And by the way, that color spathe isn't a flower as many people think. It is just a modified leaf used by the plant to protect the spadix. Hawaii is the chief producer for North America of hybridized plants but many of the named varieties are now cultured in Holland, SE Asia and India. The folks in Holland have been trying to take over the industry for some years now and many of the cultivars that are now popular can only be produced exclusively in Holland since such plants can be patented. The parent species originated in Central America. Those little spathes can be sold for as much as $5 each in some countries! A newspaper article last year told of a girl in SE Asia that spent $60,000 on them for her wedding! Cultivars are possible since Anthurium species are extremely variable. A species plant may often produce natural specimens with a spathe that has a varying color or slightly different leaf shape. The hybridizers simply pick out the ones they like and inbreed them until they become relatively stable. If you watch the spathe closely you may be able to cause your plant to produce seeds. Get a clean, never used camel hair artist paint brush and once you notice a natural liquid begin to form on the spadix at the center of the spathe begin to brush it lightly from bottom to top. Keep the brush clean and continue to brush it several times a day for a couple of weeks. The natural liquid, which often has a light perfume fragrance called a pheromone, is an indication the female flowers on the spadix are ready to be pollianted. If you use a magnifying glass you should be able to see the pollen from the male flowers develop. The pollen looks like very small strings of hair. If you are successful you will eventually see colorful berries form on the spadix. If that happens, once they ripen you can crush them and very lightly cover the seeds (normally 2 per berry) with a tiny amount of soil. It can take several months for the berries to ripen. Keep the soil damp and in a month or so you just might see baby plants forming. The difficult thing is waiting the two years (or more) for them to grow large enough to produce a spathe and spadice of their own!
Wow! Lots of great information. Unbelievable! I paid $5.00 for the whole plant…lol. You can usually get a few different varieties and sizes here just locally but unfortunately most are noids. This small one I have never come acrossed it again seems people prefer the medium to colossal sized ones and they can get big! I’ve been trying to down size my collection…lol
Well, I'm one of those people who prefer the big ones. I've got several specimens with 6 foot (almost 2 meter) leaves and one that will eventually have long hanging leaves close to 10 feet (over 3 meters) long. Almost any you buy with this type of spathe are hybrids created specifically to be smaller. If you click on my website link below and then click on the photo on the top of the homepage of the big Anthurium you find one that is huge!
Interesting Mic! I have never read the treatment of Anthurium amnicola until just now. For anyone interested, you can read it here: http://www.aroid.org/genera/anthurium/porphyrochitonium/amnicola.htm
