Ornamental Foliage Potential of Anthurium Accessions

The Anthurium genus comprises about 1100 species, most of them with ornamental potential. In the last few years the commercialization of new foliage has been growing up. It is necessary to introduce new foliage crops into the market and Anthurium species are an excellent option for cut foliage exploration. The aim of this work was to evaluate ten native Anthurium accessions, through morphological descriptors. The following characteristics were evaluated: leaf shape; petiole colour, length and diameter; main nervure colour; pulvine colour and aspect; inflorescence peduncle length and diameter; spadix colour; spathe shape, length and colour. Evaluation was made for: plant height, growth habit, leaf number, pot fulfillment and emitted shoot number. A large variation was observed for leaf, inflorescence and general plant aspects in all accessions. Some plant characters like height, growth habit, number of emitted shoots are important to define plant spacing, pot size and crop management. The leaf appearance was the most important part of plant to be considered in a first selection: leaf shape, long and straight petioles, diameter with no more than 20 mm are desired morphological characteristics for cut foliage. Accessions with short petioles and a large number of leaves and high pot fulfillment capability maybe better adapted to growth as potted plants. The ten characterized accessions present foliage characteristics for commercial exploration and could be used as material for future breeding programs since wild species plays an important role in the interspecific breeding. As its commercial exploitation is relatively recent, basic information is needed regarding growth aspects of the native Anthurium.