Anthurium (Flamingo Flowers, Tailflower, Laceleaf)

Common Name: Flamingo Flowers, Tailflower, Laceleaf

Kingdom: Plantae

Division: Magnoliophyta

Class: Liliopsida

Order: Alismatales

Family: Araceae

Genus: Anthurium

Anthurium flower is a native of America, which is included in a large genus of around 1000 species belonging to the Arum family. This flower has around 200 species, most of which can be cultivated as houseplants. This plant grows in the form of epiphytes on other plants. The leaves of this plant are often very clustered and are not of any particular shape, i.e. their shapes vary.

The flower consists of the male and female structures together. Not all the plants of this species are produce flowers, but the ones that do produce flowers that appear like a broad and flat petal. These petals are often found in different colors like, pink, red, purple, etc. From the petal, a long stem like structure called spadix shoots. It is often spike shaped, but can also be club or globe-shaped.

The flowers on the spadix later on develop into fruits, which are containing two seeds and are in the form of juicy berries. The colors of these berries vary from one species to another. Despite of their beautiful and attractive appearance, these fruits are poisonous and can cause irritation to eyes and skin.

This flower has a long shelf life of around 6 weeks, which makes it an ideal cut flower and one of the favorites of the florists.

How To Grow:

Anthurium is an easy to grow plant. It is very durable and is known to survive well under adverse conditions as well. Very cold or freezing temperature is not good for it though.

Anthurium is best grown in mild climates where the temperature varies from 70-90 F. The best way to cultivate it is to do plant it in moist soil with high moisture content. Also, it needs to be made sure that the organic content in the soil is high enough to provide the plant with sufficient nutrition. If such soil is not available the flat moss can also be used. This helps to keep the roots moist all the time.

You can follow the following steps to grow your Anthurium plants:

1. Keep the seeds for germination a little below moist soil or moss. Keep it moistened continuously so that the seeds germinate properly. Make sure that the seeds don’t get drowned under water as this will destroy the saplings.
2. Take a pot and fill it with soil and organic matter. In case you think keeping the soil moist all the time could be a problem, then you can also use moss and keep it moist.
3. Plant your seedlings in these pots and plant them not more than under 2 inches of the soil level. This will protect the roots from rotting.
4. Keep the pots in indirect sunlight, under moderate conditions and make sure you water the plants regularly.

Since these plants are vulnerable towards pests, they need to be checked and cleaned regularly.

Propagation:

Anthurium can be planted using seeds, stem or tip cuttings. Leaves then emerge from the old foliage coming out of the stems or the tip cuttings planted in pots or under the soil.

Uses: 
Anthurium is widely used as a decorative plant in households. Also, it is a favorite of florists as the cut flowers have a shelf life of six to eight weeks. Apart from this, anthurium leaves have also been used to perfume tobacco and in some medicines.

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