Planta epiphytica; cataphyllum persistens in fibris tenibus; petiolus subteres, anguste et obtusque sulcatus; lamina modice coriacea, lanceolata, basi acuta aut plus minusve rotundata, 10-27 cm longa, 1.7-5 cm lata, pagina inferiore dense glanduloso-punctata; inflorescentia effusa; pedunculus triangulatus, 8-20 cm longus, conspicue alatus; spatha modice rnembranacea, viridis interdum suffusa purpurea, oblongo-lanceolata, 2-4.5 cm longa, 5-7 mm lata; spadix viridis purpurescens, 5-11 cm longus; baccae ignotae.

Epiphyte; stem 4-6 cm long, 1-2 cm diam.; leaf scars ca. 8 mm wide; roots pale green, moderately short, 6-7 mm diam., descending; cata-phylls 2.5-4 cm long, apiculate at apex, drying brown, splitting and sometimes weathering into fibers at base and persisting at base of leaves.

LEAVES spreading; petioles 6-22 cm long, 2-5 mm diam., subterete, narrowly and bluntly sul-cate; geniculum 1-1.5 cm long; blades moderately thick, lanceolate, gradually acuminate at apex, acute to obtuse or slightly rounded at base, 10-27 cm long, 1.7-5 cm wide; both surfaces semiglossy, the upper surface eglandular, the lower surface paler, densely glandular-punctate; midrib acutely raised above, somewhat higher than broad, diminished and sunken near apex, convexly raised below; primary lateral veins 4÷ 7(-9) per side, departing midrib at ca. 35° angle, etched into surface above, prominulous below, straight to collective vein; interprimary veins scarcely visible above and below; collective vein arising from the base, etched into surface above, 2-7 mm from margin.

INFLORESCENCE spreading, shorter than or equalling leaves; peduncle 8-20 cm long, 1.5-4 mm wide, triangular with conspicuously winged margins, tinged violet purple; spathe moderately thin, green (B & K. Yellow-green 8/10), sometimes tinged violet purple, oblong-lanceolate, 2-4.5 cm long, 5-7 mm wide, broadest below middle, acute to acuminate at apex, rounded to obtuse at base, inserted at 60-70° angle; stipe thick, green; spadix green becoming purple, 5-11 cm long, 3.5-5 mm diam. near base, 1.5-2.5 mm diam. near apex; flowers rhombic, 3.4-4.8 mm long, 3-3.8 mm wide, the sides weakly sigmoid, 2-3 flowers visible in the principal spiral, 5-6 flowers visible in the alternate spiral; tepals semiglossy, smooth, the lateral tepals 2-3 mm wide, the inner margins more or less straight; pistils green, tinged violet purple, weakly exserted; stigmas elliptic, ca. 0.6 mm long, 0.4 mm wide, exserted, brush-like with droplets for ca. 2 weeks before first stamens emerge, drying grayish; stamens emerging in a slow progression from the base, the lateral pair briefly preceding the alternate pair; anthers cream, 0.2-0.5 mm long, 0.6-0.9 mm wide, held in a wide circle around pistil, sometimes contiguous; thecae ovoid-ellipsoid, slightly divaricate; pollen white.

INFRUCTESCENCE not seen. Figs. 39 and 40.

Anthurium crassiradix var. purpureospadix is endemic to Panama in Code Province at 550 to 900 m in tropical wet or premontane rain forest.

The taxon is distinguished by its narrowly lanceolate, longpetiolate, subcoriaceous, glandular-punctate, long-acuminate leaf blades with shallowly etched veins above and by its subterete, narrowly sulcate petioles, but especially by its longtapered, sharply pointed spadix that turns dark greenish purple and has exserted pistils at anthesis.

It differs from the typical variety of A. crassiradix in that it has a purplish spadix and blades that are glossier on the lower surface. Since the variety purpureospadix does occur almost within the known range of the typical variety, it may prove to be inseparable; as yet, however, no variation is evident in the typical variety in the coloration of the spadix and no tendency to turn purple is evident.

CoclŽ La Mesa, above El Valle de Ant6n, Croat 37399 (K, MO, PMA, US);
between Continental Divide & El Potroso sawmill, Sytsma et al. 2376 (MO).