Anthurium crystallinum 'Silver Blush'

'Silver Blush' is a slightly smaller cultivar with wider white leaf veins than the typical Anthurium crystallinum .

This spectacular, medium-sized anthurium originates from the far south of Panama and northern and central Colombia. There, it grows only in mountainous regions at altitudes of 300 to 1300 meters, and surprisingly, mostly lithopytic on cliffs and in the crevices of larger rocks where leaves and detritus from trees accumulate. It sometimes grows terrestrially, but is rarely found as an epiphyte.

The trunk is short, compact, and upright. The leaves are borne on round petioles up to 70 cm long and can grow to over 50 cm long and about 40 cm wide. 'Silver Blush' remains somewhat smaller. They are matte and velvety on the upper surface and can have a very dark, almost black, base color when growing in low light; otherwise, they are lighter. The contrasting white, glittering veins are particularly striking. The leaves of A. crystallinum are never peltate. Young leaves are initially red, then orange, and only darken some time after they have reached their full size. As mentioned, the petioles are round or have only slight ridges. These two characteristics allow A. crystallinum to be easily distinguished from A. magnificum and various A. crystallinum hybrids.



A. crystallinum, along with A. clarinervium , is one of the few velvet-leaved anthuriums which, with a little experience, is also well suited as a houseplant and does not necessarily have to be kept in a plant display case.