Anthurium andraeanum - Life Imitatimg Fake

This is one of the most misunderstood flower. It has often been mistaken for a fake and a popular fake it is. The petal (spathe) is thick and waxy making it a popular cut flower. It is also very often maligned as those with imaginative or 'wayward' minds refer to its vague semblance of a part of the human anatomy.

This vermillion variety is large, loud and a real attention grabber.
 

A less fiery shade of red but just as lovely is presented here.


The dwarf variety is mass planted for visual impact.

Being low and compact they make ideal bedding plants.

Nodding heads of the dwarf variety make a good landscape design statment.

This is an anthurium with a slightly different form and hue. The variations extend to the spadix where in this instance is mostly white with a slight pink flush on its tip. The tiny flowers are carried on the spadix.

This is another dwarf variety with purplish red spathe and deep purple spadix, Anthurium previa.

 

This is a large variety with pure white spathe and spadix, the tip of which is dipped in sunshine; Anthurium carnival.

This anthurium of white spathe with pink spadix provides another permutation of variety.

A teeny weeny damsel fly seen clutching the edge of this anthurium.

This one started off as a white spathe but gradually acquired a greenish tinge as it matured. It provided a broad platform for this gastropod to glide happily on until it ...

reached the tip and then - oops! The equilibrium was lost and it was left swinging and suspended for a while. It was probably having great fun.

“If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.”  - Lewis Carroll

A single stalk of anthurium provide contrast to a single frond of Norfolk Island Pine. These two cuttings last like eternity in my columnar vase of water.

Posted from Cork, Ireland (This is my last week of my one-month sojourn in Ireland).