Anthurium pirrense Croat

Ortiz, Orlando Oriel, de Stapf, María Sánchez, Baldini, Riccardo Maria & Croat, Thomas Bernard, 2019, Synopsis of aroids (Alismatales, Araceae) from Cerro Pirre (Darién Province, Panama), Check List 15 (4), pp. 651-689 : 668

Anthurium pirrense Croat ( Fig. 4E)

Material examined. Serranía de Pirre, along steep narrow ridge from Alturas de Nique to Cerro Pirre, ca 9–10 km due N of Alturas de Nique, ca 8 km W of Cana gold mine, virgin cloud forest, lower montane rain forest (Holdrige Life Zone System); 07°44′N, 077°43′W; 1430– 1480 m; 27 Jul. 1976; T. B. Croat 37850 ( MO). Ibid.; 07°49′N, 077°43′W; 1480–1520 m; T. B. Croat 37884 ( MO). Parque Nacional Darién, Serranía de Pirre, Ran- cho Plástico; 07°58′07″N, 077°42′26″W; 1208 m; 1 Aug. 2016; O. O. Ortiz 2663 ( MO, PMA).

Identification. Anthurium pirrense is distinguished by its epiphytic habit, short stems with persistent and fibrous cataphylls, subterete petioles, oblong-elliptic and subcoriaceous blades with the collective vein relatively separated from the margin. Also characteristic is its slender yellowish-brown spadices and the violet rings around the pistils. It can be confused with the sympatric A. crassite- palum, but this species comprises thinner blades (when dry) and yellowish-green spadices with a cobbled appearance due to its thickened and elevated tepals.

Distribution and ecology. Endemic to Panama. It represents an extremely rare species, only six collections are known (three of them from Cerro Pirre). In the study area, this species occurs only in the cloud forests, at elevations above 1300 m.