Anthurium cuspidatum Matuda, Madrono 10: 169. 1950, non Mast., 1875.
Anthurium cruxiphyllum Matuda, Revista Soc. Mex. Hist. Nat. 11:93.1950. TYPE: Mexico. Chiapas: near Col—nia Jalapa, 32 km E of EscuintIa, elev. 700 m, Matuda 18316 (MEXU, holotype; F, isotype).

LEAVES erect-spreading; petioles 10-51 cm long, 3-6 mm diam., terete; geniculum 1.7-2 cm long, sometimes shallowly sulcate; blades moderately thick, narrowly triangular, long acuminate at apex, broadly lobed at base, 13-42 cm long, 5.5-25 cm wide, broadest at base; anterior lobe 11.5-36 cm long, the margins ± straight; posterior lobes 2.5-10.5 cm long; sinus arcuate, round at apex; both surfaces matte, lower surface densely glandular-punctate; midrib acutely raised at base above, flat at middle, sunken at apex, acutely raised throughout below; basal veins 3-4 pairs, the third and fourth coalesced 1.5-2 cm, flat to weakly sunken above, raised below; the posterior rib naked, the outer margin turned up; primary lateral veins 2-3 per side, departing midrib at 30° angle, weakly sunken, nearly obscure above, prominulous below, ± straight to collective vein, lesser veins obscure; collective vein arising from the uppermost basal vein, 0.7-1.5 mm from margin, sunken above, raised below.

INFLORESCENCE erect-spreading; as long as or longer than leaves; petiole 30-57 cm long, 2.5-4 cm diam., terete; spathe green, tinged with violet-purple, lanceolate; 4.5-7 cm long, 1-1.8 cm wide, cuspidate-acuminate at apex, rounded at base, broadest just above base, inserted at 50° angle on peduncle; spadix deep purple (B & K Red-purple 2/2.5), 7.4-10.5 cm long, 5.5-8 mm diam. at base, 3-4 mm diam. at apex, the flowers square to sub-4-lobed, 2.3-2.5 mm in both directions, the sides straight to jaggedly sigmoid; 4-7 flowers visible in the principal spiral, 7-8 flowers visible in the alternate spiral; tepals matte to weakly glossy, obscurely punctate, minutely papillate; lateral tepals 1.2-1.5 mm wide, the inner margins broadly rounded; pistils raised, not emergent until just before stamens emerge, green tinged with purple, weakly papillate; stigma linear, ca. 0.3 mm long, scarcely distinguishable; stamens emerging from base, lateral stamens emerging to midway, before alternates emerge at base; anthers yellow, 0.5 mm long, 0.6 mm wide, held just above tepals; thecae oblong-elliptic, slightly divaricate; pollen yellow, fading cream.

INFRUCTESCENCE not known. Figs. 40 and 41.
 

The species consists of two subspecies. Anthurium chiapasense ssp. chiapasense occurs in Mexico in southeastern Chiapas and southwestern Guatemala at elevations of 800 to 1,900 m. The type locality is probably tropical wet forest and is mapped as "bosque de oyamel" (Flores et al., 1971) on the Mexican vegetation map, but the species also occurs in "bosque cauducifolio" and "bosque pino-encino." Subspecies tlaxiacense (Matuda) Croat is endemic to southern Oaxaca and differs from the typical subspecies in having an olive green spadix at anthesis and blades with the primary lateral veins prominently raised on the lower surface.
Anthurium chiapasense is in section Belolonchium and is characterized by its thick blades that are much paler and conspicuously punctate on the lower surface with an oblong or narrowly triangular anterior lobe, 3-9 cm wide midway. The species is closely related to A. lucens and may prove to be only subspecifically distinct from that species. Although both species share a relatively short, dark violet-purple spadix, subcoriaceous, glandular-punctate leaf blades, and bright red berries, A. chiapasense differs from A. lucens in having slender anterior lobes with concave margins. The margins of the anterior lobe of A. lucens are generally conspicuously convex. Anthurium chiapasense has a leaf shape more similar to that of A. verapazense, which also has subcoriaceous, glandular-punctate leaves. It differs from A. verapazense in having a porpor-tionally much shorter spadix with the spathe more than half as long as the spadix at anthesis. In addition, A. verapazense occurs from sea level to less than 1,000 meters, whereas A. chiapasense occurs from 800 to 1,800 m. Typical A. verapazense has a long, slender spadix well over twice as long as the spathe at anthesis. Anthurium chiapasense differs from both A. lucens and A. verapazense in usually drying blackened while the other two species usually dry greenish to greenish-brown. It is tentatively placed in section Belolonchium.

Mexico Chiapas: Mun. Angel Albino Corzo, 4500 m,, 10 May 1988, Breedlove & Bourell 67579 (CAS).
Mexico Chiapas: Mun. Motozntla, 1770 m,, 10 June 1988, Breedlove 69113 (CAS).
Mexico Chiapas: 1300 m,, 13 Jan. 1958, MacDougall, T. 391 (MEXU).