[Plate 19.] 



ANDRE'S AJTTHURIUM. 



(anthurium andejeanum.) 

 A Hothouse Plant, from New Granada, belonging to the Natural Order of Aroide^e. 



Specific Character. 



ANTHURIUM ANDR^ANUM.— An Aroid of tufted habit, with oblong, cordate, glabrous, leathery leaves, dark 

 green above, paler beneath, and marked by comparatively few but prominent nerves ; the leaf-stalks are ascending, 

 cylindrical, slender, and thickened at the top, the blade being attached, as it were, hinge-wise, so as to allow of 

 varying positions, deflexed or spreading. The flower-stalk is double the length of the leaf-stalk, erect, slender; 

 and bears at the summit a spreading, heart-shaped, acute, leathery spathe, of a brilliant shining scarlet colour, the 

 surface irregularly corrugated, like the cartilage of the ear, and of so firm a texture and brilliant a colour as to 

 suggest the idea of an artificial rather than a natural production. The spadix, which is about three inches long, 

 and of the thickness of a swan-quill, is ivory-white at the base, and greenish-yellow at the tip. 



Gardener's Chronicle, N.S., vol. xiii., p. 490. 



TjlXCEPTING from amongst the Orchidaceous family, it is only at considerable intervals 

 -U that a new species of flowering plant makes its appearance of a character such as 

 enables it to become a general- favourite with the gardening community, who, with few 

 exceptions, are generally found to give preference to plants that produce showy flowers, and 

 above all that give a succession of bloom ; and if in addition to this the individual flowers 

 are of an enduring character, and the plant moderately easy of cultivation, then it is almost 

 certain that the newcomer will be received with acclamation, and will soon find its way into 

 the hands of most who possess the means to cultivate it. Of this character is the brilliant- 

 flowered Aroid herewith illustrated. We well remember the sensation amongst plant-growers 

 which a kindred species (A. Scherzerianum) made when first bloomed in a way that fairly 

 exhibited what the plant was capable of being grown to; yet, for brilliancy of colour and 

 general effectiveness of the individual flowers, the old favourite pales before this newcomer. 

 In the whole range of cultivated plants we know of none possessing such an indescribable 

 lustre. The spathe is not smooth, as in other Anthuriums, the whole inner surface being 

 composed of a netted corrugation, aptly described by Dr. Masters as resembling "the 



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