Anthurium clidemioides

A small climber of wet lowland forest

Anthurium clidemioides occurs from Costa Rica through Panama to Colombia. It is a climbing epiphyte of wet tropical forest, recorded in Costa Rica from sea level to about 800 m and often in deep shade. Its short internodes and clinging roots keep the plant close to damp trunks and other supports beneath the canopy.

Care for Anthurium clidemioides

• Light: Place in bright shade or well-filtered light. Shield the climbing foliage from direct midday sun and heat behind glass.
• Watering: Keep the root zone evenly moist, allowing only the surface to begin drying. Water the support sparingly where active aerial roots have attached.
• Humidity and airflow: Provide 70–85% relative humidity with gentle airflow around the stem and support.
• Temperature: Maintain 22–29 °C with nights above 20 °C. Lowland growth slows quickly in a cold root zone.
• Substrate and repotting: During acclimation, keep Anthurium clidemioides in its nursery pot while you compare pot weight before and after watering and watch the climbing stem and attached roots; repot after active roots make its drying rhythm predictable. Later, use a heavy, close-fitting base pot with bark, coco husk, coir and pumice and add a moisture-holding pole or plank.
• Feeding: Use a weak complete fertiliser during continuous warm growth. Flush the pot and support with low-mineral water every 4–6 weeks.
• Climbing stem and propagation: Grow the thin climbing stem vertically on tree-fern fibre, cork or a slim mossed support, keeping each new aerial root against the support. Rinse the thin leaves gently and take cuttings with at least one node and active root.

Stalled growth, root stress and pests

• Wilting above a wet or dry root ball: A dry support, a light pot and shrivelled small aerial roots indicate thirst; water the pot and moisten the rooted sections of the support. Yellow limp leaves above a damp heavy base call for a root and lower-stem check.
• Root loss and a stable crown: Firm roots should appear at the pot and between supported nodes. Remove hollow or slippery tissue using clean scissors reserved for plant work, keep the base in a snug airy mix and guide the small living roots onto a slim support. Before cutting Anthurium clidemioides, photograph the root system and confirm failure by texture; preserve every firm section, sterilise the tool between cuts and keep the crown stable while new roots develop.
• Tip burn and mineral build-up: Brown tips may appear after a dry support, salt accumulation or cold damage to aerial roots. Check base and support separately, flush the pot and maintain moisture only where live roots are attached.
• Stable damage versus an active lesion: Dry rubbing marks can remain limited to one area where leaves touch a support. Wet, yellow-edged or expanding lesions require isolation, dry foliage and daily photographs.
• Long gaps between new leaves: A trailing stem can remain sparse when it runs horizontally or loses light. Give bright filtered light and 22–29 °C, guide the thin stem upward and keep each root-producing section against the support.
• Insects and mites in protected creases: Thrips feed in the small opening leaves, while mealybugs and scale hide along the thin stem and root-producing sections. Use a hand lens to inspect every node. Isolate, clean the plant and support, apply a product labelled for the pest to the affected nodes and root junctions and repeat as directed while checking weekly.
• Dry roots along the stem: Small aerial roots can emerge between nodes along the stem. A dry bare node can stop attaching to the support. Keep each root-bearing section against a lightly moist surface and inspect it for pests.

Pet safety for Anthurium clidemioides

• Not pet-safe. This plant contains calcium oxalate crystals that can cause immediate pain and irritation if chewed.

The name Anthurium clidemioides

The genus name Anthurium combines Greek anthos, “flower”, and oura, “tail”, referring to the tail-like spadix. Heinrich Wilhelm Schott established the genus in 1829 in Wiener Zeitschrift für Kunst, Litteratur, Theater und Mode, volume 3, page 828.

Clidemioides means “resembling Clidemia”, a genus now included in Miconia. Paul C. Standley described Anthurium clidemioides in 1940 in Publications of the Field Museum of Natural History, Botanical Series 22: 3.