Found in the cloud forests of the Intag valley, around 2200 m. I'm reasonably sure it's an anthurium of some sort. The habit was arboreal, and the leaves were about 50 cm or so long at their longest. The plant went right up a 50' tree. It was blooming at eye level, which should help ID it; this is the first time I've seen a wild one with red spathes. Thanks!
Difficult to be absolutely certain but the leaf and spadix strongly resemble Philodendron sagittifolium. That species is common to southern Mexico, all of Central America, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guiana Shield, Ecuador, Peru and parts of Bolivia and Brazil. The species is one of the most variable of all Philodendron species and takes on many leaf forms. The spathe is also variable and differs widely, especially in color. I've been talking to several botanists lately about the variability of spathes since it was always my impression the spathe was a constant. According to some of the best botanical minds, not so. The shape will be generally the same but some can be erect and others turn back at an angle. They can also vary somewhat in shape. Color differences in the spathe are quite common from region to region. I have a photo of the spathe of my own plant on the website link below. My specimen was identified by Dr. Tom Croat of the Missouri Botanical Garden based on photos of both leaves and the spathe. When I asked botanist Alistair Hay about the differences in both color and shape of spathes he responded, "What you seem to be wrestling with is the general concept of a species. This is extremely difficult and there have long been widely different views about what species are! An evolutionary definition is that it is a unique lineage, and that lineage may or may not embody great variation. There is no in-principle reason why any feature, be it inflorescence or leaves or pollen grains etc, shouldn't be variable within a species. What one first looks for in defining where a species begins and ends in relation to other species is breaks in variation which one thinks are significant. To take your pic, a different colored spathe may not be significant in defining a species, unless correlated with breaks in variation of other feature(s) as well. It is just a color form of the same thing ." You might check my page on the species and look up some other good sites to compare what you read to your plant. http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Philodendronsagittifolium pc.html
