Stats

Lifespan: Perennial
Size: Medium
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Tropical rainforest
Range: South America
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Toxins
Status: Uncommon

About

The painter's-palette is prized for its waxy, heart-shaped spathe — a modified leaf that mimics a petal — which can persist for up to eight weeks in shades of deep red, coral, or white. Native to Colombian rainforests, that vivid spathe is technically just a bract; the true flowers are the dozens of tiny bumps clustered along the slender yellow spadix at its centre.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Genus: Anthurium
Species: Anthurium andraeanum