This could well be one of my favorite plants in my collection. I have grown it since the about 2007. It is sometimes called 'The Butterfly Anthurium' because its leaf surfaces can be so shiny they glisten like butterfly wings.

This plant is endemic to Panama (meaning that it occurs nowhere else in the wild). Of the over 250 species of Anthurium that make up the section Cardiolonchium (the velvet leaved Anthuriums) Panama has 8. This plant was originally discovered by Dr. Robert Dressler on the Caribbean coast growing in lowland rainforest in the 1960's. Wild collections of plants are now rare, coming only from the Colon Provence. They grow as terrestrials on steep slopes of broken ground very near sea level. The species was first published to science in 1986 by Dr. Thomas Croat.

The leaves of this plant are so beautiful, and so variable. They can range from dark olive green to almost black, and be almost iridescent looking due to the convex/conical cells in the epidermal layer of tissue that capture and reflect diffuse light that falls to the rainforest floor. The shape can vary, even on the same plant, from a more elongated almost ovoid shape with a very closed auricular sinus, to a more narrow elongated straight sided form with a very open sinus. Color can also vary on the same plant. The blacker forms are the most prized by collectors.

The new leaves are often misshapen looking, almost deformed looking. But somehow they straighten themselves out and become beautiful and 'variably normal' looking in short order as they harden off. The brand new emergent leaves can be so red-violet they look like a spill of shiny satin cloth, or so black that they look like black velvet. The purplish coloration fades as the leaf grows and it assumed its adult coloration of deep green-black.

There have been several hybrids made with this plant, the one made originally by John Banta (A. papillilaminum x A. waroqueanum) is the most available and recognizable under the name 'Dark Mama'.

These are some photos of some of my plants that I have growing both in the ground and in containers in my greenhouse. I have propagated this plant several times and placed plants in out of the way locations to peek out between other plants and kind of look mysterious. While easy to propagate, the offset plants are prone to 'sulk' for a while after transplanting. They do not seem to like to have their roots disturbed, and they take a while to settle down and get serious about growing again. For this reason, I do not trade this plant anymore, even though it is in a very high demand by collectors.

My original stand of Mother plants

Offset peeking around an Anthurium pedatoradiatum



New, fast maturing violet-red leaf


New leaves on the same plant in various color forms while hardening off

Brand new extremely shiny leaves on a new offset

I think I like this one even more than the clarinervium. Something about it just screams "high-class", which I am not, but that's besides the point. It has a very sleek and tame look, and that black is just It sort of reminds me of philodendron micans with that sort of rusty red.

I'm really surprised no one else has commented yet. This is such an interesting and unique plant! I've also not seen or heard of this plant before. Is it a rare one?

It is fairly rare and pretty expensive here at this point in time. It used to but more common, but since it is not really exported from its native habitat (its kind of rare in the wild too with a very limited natural habitat)for the plant trade, and I don;t think its being tissue cultured anywhere, the supply is limited to seed grown plants and the randomly vegetatively propagated plant. I have seen these selling at auction for a bunch of dollars. But they are probably more readily available in Europe and from places like Ecuagenera

Oh wow, I love the way you placed your plants. They look amazing just poking out and call your attention.

What a lovely plant and a gorgeous way to display it.

Thanks sharing

I hav been recently told that this plant, which I have had since 2006/7, perhaps earlier (I actually think I acquired it in 2005 based on my earliest photos of it from way back in the wayback) is one of the most pure unadulterated forms to be currently in existence. Plants in older collections like mine are sometimes that way...over the intervening years they get hybridized, or new forms with morphological differences can emerge out of tissue culture or whatnot. Lately there has been some renewed interest in this plant...they have discovered that plants growing in Panama can have distinct morphological differences just based on which side of a hillside they are growing on, in the same locale! Isn;t that wild?

Nature is so amazing. That would be soming to see the same plant look so different from one another.

The more I read on here and chat with you the more amazing growing plants becomes. To think that one collection can helped to keep a variety of a plant pure is so cool.

It was a revelation to me. My collection here started in1992. Before that I grew some plants in SO Cal. But when we moved to FL I did not bring most of them with me. So to know that plants that I had from the early 1990's until now are considered 'pure' is a real big deal to me

Hi Gina1960. Beautiful papillilaminums.
Just wanted to share some info on this species. I am a conservationist in Panama working to locate rare anthuriums to determine their status. I located the original population of this species two years back to determine the condition of the population and while there are in fact very few, they seem healthy and undisturbed. I noticed this species growing with A. ochranthum and there seems to be some natural hybridization since they are in the same section and papillilaminum flowers year round. So there is a lot of natural variability in this population.
I also located another population, of all places in a cow pasture 50 km away on the Pacific side of Panama. I already notified the University of Panama of this population so it is documented. It was a complete surprise since this population is in a very dry area and this species (and all anthuriums) prefer the wetter Caribbean side. Sadly, some jerk sprayed herbicide over a number of specimens so I collected a few to revive. You can see in the attached pics that they are doing very well. They bloom year round and I have been growing seedlings for about a year now. So luckily they are still out there. I will be looking for additional populations this dry season (Jan-May) and will undoubtedly find others in the area between these two populations.

@Panama74 welcome! So glad to hear that these are still out and about in their native habitat. This is the most prosperous Anthurium in my collection. I have not had luck pollinating it, I have tried several times with no success. But I keep trying. I have much better success with propagating it by division. My form is very black for the most part, and it has a LOT of very aberrant leaves. Lots of different shapes. Some are round, some are elongate, some are very narrow, some have a ruffled edge. I have been told (by people who are MUCH MORE knowledgeable about the scientific aspect than I am....I am just a very old lady who has been in this hobby a long time) that my original plant, being imported in the early 2000's, is much less likely to have sustained hybridization with other forms of papillilaminum than some of the ones coming out of different sources today. I find it very interesting that it may be a natural hybrid with ochranthum. I had not heard that before. I am so glad that there are folks like you out there doing this field work to document these rare species. So many people in this hobby today are just out to impost plants, chop them up and resell them. I am a long term grower. I can share on one hand the number of people I have sold, traded or just given a specimen of my Papi to. Its not because I am selfish. I am in my early 60's and I think I need to start distributing some of the plants that I have been growing in some cases since the early 1990's. But I am not in it to give it to people who are in it to make a quick buck. I have been looking into donating specimens to botanical gardens in order to give them a datable record of some of the plants I grow for the future. I am one of the very few private collectors (apparently) that have an unadulterated specimen of Anthurium spectabile in their collections. I have been doing all I can to distribute this species and bring it back...selling/trading/giving away seeds and plants...I donated a plant to the Fairchild Gardens in Miami because they did not have one. I hope you will be a regular contributor to this forum. There are not many people on this site interested in aroids. Which may be a good thing, or a bad thing as they have exploded in popularity (and PRICE) for the past couple years. We need more voices like yours.

Gina,
Thank you for the kind words and I applaud your efforts. I understand that these plants are attractive and many find an appeal to hybridizing them. But I am a purist and my concern is solely conservation. Glad to hear you feel the same.
Panama has about 200 anthuriums and 100 are endemic. Yet no pictures exist for the majority of them! In this last year alone, I have located 2 that have only ever been seen once in the 70s (A. angustilobum and A. sagawae) and I have been monitoring A. kamemotoanum for flowering since I suspect there is a pollination issue and they aren't reproducing. I will add pics of the first two as none exist online and a pic of a kamemotoanum bloom since it is so spectacular. Whenever I meet a fellow aroid enthusiast, I am always excited to share. Most of these plants are deep in the jungle and it is only foolish passion and strong coffee that allows me to find them in their natural habitat.

WOW those are pretty spectacular!!!!! I am so happy that people like you exist. Its more important now than it ever was for species to be documented. You actually live my dream life. When I was younger I would have given anything to have gone tromping through the jungle as a naturalist. Those opportunities never presented themselves. I grew up in a time and place where most families were financially unable to send their children to college. And if they had the money, they usually only sent their male children. Their female children were expected to get married right out of high school and leave home to ease the financial burden on their families. Fortunately my parents did not feel that way and sent both myself and my sister to college so we could be self sufficient.

Its a good thing that these plants are deep in the jungle. And its actually a good thing that the majority are not well documented to the public in general but perhaps only to the scientific community...if they become sought after these days they will be robbed from the wild to satisfy the desires of a lot of people who say they 'collect' when all they are doing really is try to make a profit off of these plants. Your work to document the existence of these plants is so important, because with the threat of climate change and the ever growing greed of men they could one day disappear. I never thought in my lifetime that the Amazon would be destroyed to the extent that it is, or that the Great Barrier Reef would be decimated by rising ocean temperatures. You have my greatest admiration.

I was given a plant by a fellow collector (a really SERIOUS collector, who is not in it for the money) that somewhat resembles A. sagawae. It is an undescribed species which they are attempting to get described officially now, so he has asked me not to publish photos of it until that happens, but I will send you one by Treemail because I would not dishonor his request to not show it publicly. It came from Colombia.

What really hurts my soul is seeing rare plants like the Philodendron spiritus-sancti being poached so extensively from the wild that it may go extinct in habitat. This is what happens when people decide that they just have to possess something (even if they do not have the facility to properly grow it). Plants are stolen. Plants are poached. There is a P. SS on a site right now for auction...the current bid is an astounding $11,490.00. That is NOT a type. ELEVEN THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED NINETY. If people are willing to fork over that kind of change for a specimen, this plant has NO CHANCE of surviving in the wild.

What a beautiful plant! I was thinking of Philodendron micans as well. Especially that velvety red leaf. Has a similar sheen to it.

I really hope I can get into conservation one day as well. I did a lot of schooling in marine science as well as environmental science, because I'd absolutely love to get involved in conservation and habitat restoration. I was actually going to start a Master's degree this year to continue pursuing the dream, but COVID made a huge mess of that. Between schools figuring out how to contend with it, some new hurdles in my initial financial plan, and the fact I planned on studying internationally. So that's all on hold at the moment. But it always puts a smile on my face when I see others putting their time and effort into species and their environments. Especially now, when they need our help more than ever.

I agree. Covid has been the fly in the ointment for just about every endeavor. Its so sad. My children graduated college within a year of each other, Neither has a job, they are living with us rent free and working menial minimum wage jobs that do not pay a living wage because it is all they can get, its criminal. My only hope is that the current leader of our country is 'deposed' (sorry to bring politics into this) because he is POISON to the natural world. He would strip mine his own mother if she had gold fillings he could sell. All he wants to do is destroy everything. We will be lucky if anything is left when he leaves office, whenever that is (hopefully in January 2021).

Gina,
Thanks again for your comments. I know there are many unscrupulous plant traffickers out there and recently came across signs of bromeliad/orchid thieves in a forest patch I know well. But an even bigger offender in my mind are the cattle ranchers here in Panama. There is a government policy that squatters own land after 7 years of 'improving' it so there is a huge incentive to land grab. They knock down the forest, burn the vegetation, put up a fence and call it theirs. They leave absolutely nothing. At least plant thieves keep specimens. Ranchers reduce the forest to zero.
And then there are incompetent infrastructure projects. I won't even get started on those. A new road was put in through a forest of endemic plants and they bulldozed entire populations of critically endangered Zamia stevensonii and Anthurium tysonii. Heartbreaking stuff but luckily there are other pockets away from the road where these can be found.
On a happier note, here are some images of the Anthurium papillilaminum seedlings I mentioned. These are about six months old. You can already see the diagnostic velvety texture. They are tricky to grow but when they do grow well they are worth the effort.

Beauties all!

Gina,

First, I want to say that I have stumbled on multiple threads over the months that you either started or assisted on, and have always learned so much! Wealth of knowledge I hope to gain myself.

Question for you - from what I've read and you confirm above, there are very few pure papillilaminum and even then the appearances can vary significantly. That being said, are there any definitive characteristics to always look for? Especially in juvenile form (selfish question for those of us looking to add to our collections). Attaching two examples from listings that seem opposite to me. The one seems darker form, smooth, maroon petiole/stem. The other seems lighter, almost bullate leaf, and neon petiole stem. Appreciate any thoughts you might have on these. Or even any reputable sourcing suggestions while Arroid shows and things are all on hold?

The only thing I can tell you (because I am not an expert, and not an importer) is that the more pure unadulterated forms exist in the old collections of old collectors, and in some botanical gardens.

I have discussed this before with people who are much more serious and knowledgeable than me, (I just had the good fortune to enter the hobby so many years ago that some of the plants I obtained then and still grow came into play before all the hybridization occurred), and the more pure forms tend to exhibit extremely morphologically variable leaves on the same plant. It is believed by these folks that my specimen was one of a group imported, probably from Panama, before 2002 .

There are some Anthuriums that have been used extensively in hybridization...papillilaminum, crystallinum, clarinervium, dressleri, besseae, forgetii and others. I have been told that it is believed that almost every crystallinum being sold now is a hybrid...'pure' forms (and I have one, also from the same time period as the papi and a few other species I have) are rare now and can sell for as much as $800-1000. I don;t know if this is true. But it kind of follows.

In the period of about 2008-2010 there was a huge run on 3 birds nest anthuriums...superbum, willifordii, and jenmanii...that were highly sought after by the Asian anthurium breeders to use in their breeding programs. They were buying up every one they could find anywhere at huge prices and these plants because unattainable to the common hobbyist. The same thing is happening now with some plants.

I can't look at your photos and tell you if they are hybrids or not, but I suspect they may be. The darker one looks more like it has more papi in it than the green one. The green one almost looks to me like it may have some magnificum mixed in. The petioles are almost always also dark on the more pure specimens I have seen, not green. One thing that everyone who has a more pure form says is that the spadices are often strange...they will be twisted, two seemingly fused into one, multiple tips...and I can attest to that mine have produced some pretty weird blooms. I am attempting to germinate some seeds from one of mine now, it will be interesting to see what it looks like.

I sell and trade offsets of my plant extremely infrequently. Other collectors I know are the same way. Its not that we are selfish, its that we don't really trust some of the growers who want to buy them to be able to grow them and not kill them, and they are kind of precious. A lot of people who have entered this hobby in the past few years have seemingly more money that experience.

@Gina1960
So much interesting and useful information! Do you sell some A. Papillilaminum right now?

plant greetings!

No, I rarely sell or trade this plant