Here is a list of things to look for to determine if the plant is Anthurium schlechtendalii. This species is variable and these characteristics may not always remain stable but these are the norms: The roots should be a thick greenish mass with each root approximately 3 to 8 mm diameter. The cataphylls should be moderately thick as well as 7.5 to 16 cm long. The cataphyll in case you arenÂt familiar with the term is the modified leaf that wraps around any newly emerging leaf. It will emerge green but once it dies will dry brown and then persist on the petiole as a mass of fibers. The petioles that support the leaves should be app. 12 to 23 cm long but in almost all cases will be trapezoidal at the bottom of the petiole. When imagining the trapezoid look at the petiole as if you had cut it in half and are looking at it as s cross section. The petiole may sometimes be sharply bluntly ribbed and also have widest on the upper surface. Be sure and look for shallow grooves running parallel to each other. This known as being sulcate and may require a magnifying glass to see well. The geniculum will be 1 to 2 cm long. The leaf should be widest near or above middle with both the upper and lower surfaces matte to semiglossy. Look at the big vein in the middle of the leaf known as the midrib. The upper surface should be flat to weakly rounded near the base of the leaf. Sometimes it is weakly ribbed at the apex or tip of the leaf but it will be square at base on the underside but rounds as it approaches the tip of the leaf. There should be 15 to 16 primary lateral venison each side if the upper side of the leaf and those veins will be raised on both the upper and lower surfaces. The minor veins will be scarcely visible. You will also notice a collective vein near the edge (margin) of the leaf That collective vein should begin from the tip of a primary lateral vein about one quarter down from the tip blade and will run about 2 to 5 mm from edge (margin) of the leaf. The collective vein will be sunk on the upper side of the blade but raised on the underside. The peduncle that is the stalk that is supporting your inflorescence should measure approximately 33 to 43 cm long and should be round but at places also weakly flattened as well as ribbed. The spathe should feel leathery as well as green but heavily tinged with violet/purple. Generally it is lance shaped but is something that didnÂt appear quite right to me. If you have seen the berries on the spadix they will always be red. Check these things and let me know. If it doesnÂt match well weÂll look at other species. Steve

Here's a live link to the info on Anthurium faustomirandae. Here is a link that might be useful: The ExoticRainforest

Please don't shoot me for this! But that last question is truly an interesting one! This is an email from Dr. Tom Croat, America's top aroid botanist at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. Dear Denis: There has not been anything published since I published my revision of Anthurium sect. Pachyneurium in the Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 78(3): 539-855.1991. The attractive, coriaciaceous bird's nest sometimes called "jenmanii" sometimes A. bonplandii guayanum, sometimes as A. guayanum had the young leave reddish on the lower surface when young. I treated this as Anthurium bonplandii ssp. guyanum but it might just as easily be considered a distinct species as was treated by George Bunting. It is just that there is so much variation in all of those taxa that I could not find clear separation in them. Certainly this plant did not have anything really in common with A. jenmannii, a species which has a spathe that soon withers and falls off. Dr Tom Croat, Missouri Botanical Garden The email was not sent to me but was forwarded to me by Denis Rotolante at Silver Krome Gardens in Miami. Dr. Croat sent the message to Denis. In case you don't understand, Dr. Croat is saying the plant with the purple/red leaf is not Anthurium jenmanii as everyone now thinks. The plant that produces the purple/red leaf is actually Anthurium bonplandii subsp. guyanum. So what does that mean? It just means you need to change the tag on your plant if you have the Anthurium from the Guiana Shield that produces the new leaf that is purple. The mistake apparently happened as a result of a plant photograph taken at an International aroid Show in Miami of a plant with a bad name tag. That bad name has stuck. But according to Dr. Croat, the plant with the purple/red leaf is not Anthurium jenamanii as everyone seems to think. Here is a link that might be useful: Anthurium bonplandii subsp. guyanum

Sorry, I got tongue tangled on this post. The IAS show is in the fall, this one could possibly be in the spring.