Anthurium napaeum Engl.

Terrestrial, or caespitose on rocks, sometimes epiphytic; stem 9–30 cm long, 1.5–2.5 cm diam.; roots numerous, dense, spreading to descending, white to green, whitish or brown on drying, more or less smooth, thick and short to slender and elongate, weakly tapered at apex, 2–4 mm diam.; cataphylls subcoriaceous, 8–9(16) cm long, acuminate and apiculate at apex, pale green, drying tan, persisting intact, eventually as a reticulum of fibers. Leaves erect to erect-spreading; petioles (8)16–42 cm long, 5–15 mm diam., broadly triangular, convex daxially with weak medial ridge, the margins prominently and sharply raised, almost winged, bluntly to sharply angular abaxially, the surface conspicuously pale short-lineate; geniculum slightly thicker and paler than petiole, 1–2 cm long; blades moderately coriaceous, broadly lanceolate to oblong-elliptic to oblanceolate, long-acuminate at apex (the acumen short-apiculate), acute to obtuse at base, (31)40–70(82) cm long, (5)9–28 cm wide, broadest at or above the middle, the margins flat to broadly undulate; upper surface glossy, dark green, lower surface glossy to semiglossy, conspicuously paler; both surfaces matte when dried, green to brown; midrib prominently convex at base, becoming higher than broad toward the apex above, pale short-lineate and paler than surface, prominently and sharply acute-raised below, raised above and below when dried, paler than surface below, same as surface above; primary lateral veins numerous, ca. 20–30 per side, departing midrib at 50–75 degree angle, straight-ascending, weakly visible above and below when fresh, slightly raised on both surfaces when dried; interprimary veins almost as conspicuous as primary lateral veins; tertiary veins weakly visible when dried; collective vein arising from near the base or in the upper third of the blade, slightly more prominent than primary lateral veins when fresh below, equally as prominent as primary lateral veins when dried, 2–13 mm from margin. Inflorescences erect to spreading, shorter than leaves; peduncle 23–50(62) cm long, 3–7 mm 2–3-ridged, 2–3 times as long as petiole, green heavily tinged with red-violet at base, faintly red-violet toward the apex; spathe eflexed-spreading, subcoriaceous, green tinged with red-violet (B & K yellow-green 6/7.5), linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, 6–10 cm long, 0.4–1.5 cm wide, broadest near the base or in lower third, inserted at 60–70 degree angle on peduncle, long-acuminate at apex (the acumen inrolled), acute at base, the margins meeting at 90 degree angle; spadix brownish purple (B & K red-purple 2/10) to dark purple, rarely dark olive-green, cylindroid to weakly tapered, sessile or stipitate 1–2 mm, erect, 5.5–16 cm long, 5–6 mm diam. midway; flowers more or less square to 4-lobed, 1.9–2.5 mm long, 2–2.4 mm wide, the sides jaggedly sigmoid; 4–6 flowers visible in principal spiral, 8–10 in alternate spiral; tepals matte to semiglossy, densely papillate; lateral tepals 0.7–1.2 mm wide, the inner margins straight, the outer margins 2-sided, sometimes weakly 4-sided; pistils raised but not emergent, or held slightly above the tepals, green; stigma ellipsoid, 0.4 mm long, brush-like; stamens emerging shortly above the tepals, laterals emerging almost to the apex before alternates emerge; filaments fleshy, translucent or purplish, 0.5–0.8 mm long, 0.4–0.8 mm wide; anthers yellow to purplish, 0.3–0.6 mm long, 0.4–0.7 mm wide, inclined over the pistil; thecae oblong, drying ovoid, scarcely divaricate; pollen white to yellow-orange fading to tan. Infructescence with spathe persisting; spadix 8–22 cm long, 0.5–1.4 cm diam.; berries reddish to dark purplish violet, ovoid, exserted, acute at apex, drying 4.2–6 mm long, 2–2.5 mm diam.

A member of series Multinervii, Anthurium napaeum occurs in Ecuador on the western slopes of the Andes, at 200 to 1,400 (1,800) m in premontane wet and premontane moist forest, and in Narino, Colombia. One specimen from Cotopaxi, between Latacunga and Quevedo at 800 to 950 m, was reported to occur in montane moist forest. This species is characterized by its generally terrestrial habit, short, densely rooted stem, cataphylls which persist as a reticulum of fibers, broadly triangular, conspicuously pale﷓speckled petioles, leaf blades which are usually glossy on both surfaces when fresh, drying green and often conspicously paler below, and by its cylindroid, brownish purple spadix with 4--6 flowers visible in the principial spiral. Anthurium napaeum is most closely allied to A. palenquense, which differs in having leaf blades with the margins conspicuously concave tovard the base. The names Anthurium peripense and A. rircayanum are synonymized here for the first time. The type localities of these species, together with that of A. napaeum, are in the coastal lowlands of western Ecuador, draining into the Gulf of Guayaquil. The differences between the type specimens are slight, the main one being leaf shape: the types of A. napaeum and of A. rircayanum closely resemble each other in this respect, while that of A. peripense has straighter blade margins which are somewhat concave toward the base. An unusual collection (Croat 55782) exhibits stamens starting emergence at the apex of the spadix and progressing regularly to the base, with the laterals preceding the alternates by up to 18 spirals. Basipetal maturation of the stamens has not been observed in any other Anthurium.

Anthurium peripense Engler., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 25: 442. (1898). Type: Ecuador. Manabi: Río Peripa, Sodiro s.n. (B, holotype). Anthurium rircayanum Sodiro, Anal. Univ. Centr. (Quito) 22(156): 21. (1906). Type: Ecuador. Guayas: Río Rircay, Rimbach s.n. (B, holotype).