Recently there was a request posted on UBC for Anthurium seed. That is an unusual request, but one that growers of the species are finding in their in-box quite often. It seems the interest in growing Anthurium species from people in SE Asia, especially Indonesia, is now enormous. I'm not sure why many folks believe seeds of this genus should be easily available, but they simply are not. But there is a great deal of interest in growing numerous Anthurium species. And the plant an Anthurium collector is seeking is far different from those pretty little plants with the colorful spathe and spadix you buy in Hawaii or at discount stores. There are more than 800 known species plus an incredible number of hybrids. Some species grow to be both enormous and incredibly beautiful. I receive personal requests for information on how to grow these plants all the time. Some people even want to know if an Anthurium can be grown in water. So, rather than take up tons of space to post the article here, I've put the answers on the net. If you are interested in Anthurium species, how to grow them, how to pot them, how they grow in nature, and most other aspects of Anthurium culture, I hope you'll find the answer here: http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Grow or Growing Anthurium species.html I was assisted by some of the top Anthurium and aroid experts in North America in writing and editing this piece. If you like this genus, I hope you'll find this useful.
I was ever so pleased to get some seedlings of the beautiful Anthurium ovatifolium . They grew well for me over the years , and I had bought several and am always trying to set seed on them . Dissapointed that I never got seed to set , not unusual with many species of Anthurium . Finally got seed , but it must not be the true species as the berries were white instead of the brilliant red shown on the IAS habitat picture . Sadly I lost the whole batch of seedlings while shifting plants around after a cyclone destroyed my canopy. Still got parent plants and hope to get seed again . But these are so small they would be very difficult to send or sell .
Trikus, What a wonderful plant, your Anthurium ovatifolium! I've been wanting one of those for a while and hope to be able to obtain one from Ecuagenera soon. Of course, I'll see if I can set seed on it as well as hybridize with it. Interestingly enough, I have a hybrid seedling from one of my "mystery" crosses (mystery because of hurricane Katrina overturning my seedling trays and mixing up all the plants and labels together) and this plant has leaves with a similar veination and shape. I can't for the life of me figure out which of my Anthurium species or hybrids this plant may have gotten that characteristic from as I have no plants that look like A. ovatifolium nor that have the characteristic (to me) three primary veins that A. ovatifolium has. But that's one of the fun aspects of growing species and hybrids from seed!
