Anthurium hookeri Kunth

Not the common Bird's Nest Anthurium
Often incorrectly spelled Anthurium hookerii
Synonym: Anthurium huegelii, Anthurium neglectum

It is regrettable, but many plant sellers sell any Anthurium plant they cannot identify with the name "Anthurium hookeri".   If you believe you are growing Anthurium hookeri read the details carefully, you may find you are not.  We did!   And if you believe Anthurium hookeri is common in nature, again, read the text.  It is likely rare! 
And the berries aren't red, they're white!
 

Despite the fact hybridizers are attempting to sell a "black" plant with this plant's name, that plant is not likely to be the species Anthurium hookeri but is almost certainly a hybrid of section Pachyneurium species.  Anthurium hookeri is not in section Pachyneurium!

Can you imagine this large plant hanging on a tree?  I used to spend a lot of time in the Caribbean since my professional life was spent as a commercial photographer capturing photos of anything underwater, cruise ships, resort hotels and destinations for magazines, brochures and travel companies.  I've seen Anthurium hookeri growing gracefully on the branches of trees.  Big trees!  A very unusual sight because the epiphytic plant can grow quite large.   In a recent message Hawaiian grower Leland Miyano commented about the size of his Anthurium hookeri, "I only have one mature plant, but many inflorescences on it.  My plant is about 7 feet across."   That would be over 2 meters!  But if you live in Florida, the actual plant species may not be what you grow in your yard!

Anthurium hookeri often represents the very plant that is considered "tropical" in a landscape.  The term "tropical rain forest" was originated by German explorer Wilhelm Philipp Schimper and he first used the term in his 1898 book Plant Geography to describe the part of the world where species such as Anthurium hookeri are found in nature.  His definition of a rain forest was "evergreen, hygrophilous in character, at least 30 meters high, but usually much taller, rich in thick-stemmed lianas (which means jungle vines) and in woody as well as herbaceous epiphytes".  Anthurium hookeri is an epiphyte (a plant that grows upon another plant) as Schimper described and A. hookeri normally grows on trees.  But collectors most often grow what they think is this species terrestrially, or in the ground.  But many of us are actually growing a hybrid of dubious origin, and not "the species"!

Described to science in 1841, Anthurium hookeri is an aroid and is found in much of the West Indies (Caribbean) including the islands of Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Trinidad.  It is also seen in northern Venezuela through the Guiana Shield in northeastern South America.  Although the record is not perfectly clear, some anecdotal information implies the species was named for Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911), a well known 19th century botanist who described several taxa of aroids as well as a variety of other plant specimens.  However, since he would have only been in his early 20's at the time the species was described, it is more likely Anthurium hookeri was named in honor of his father, botanist Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865).  William Jackson Hooker was once the director of the Royal Botanical Gardens Kew in London.  Typically, the species is found in nature at an elevation between 200 to 1450 meters (700 to 4,750 feet).  And despite the current demand in SE Asia, it is very likely many of the plants being sold are not actually this species, but instead a hybrid plant of unknown heritage.   Plants with the name "Anthurium hookeri" are frequently sold as a landscape plant and are commonly available at numerous plant nurseries in Florida.  However, many of the specimens using the name "Anthurium hookeri" are not that species at all!  Instead, most are hybrid forms of a variety from Anthurium section Pachyneurium.   And according to noted aroid botanist Dr. Tom Croat of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, the true Anthurium hookeri is not in that Anthurium section! 

In his journal Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 1991, Dr. Croat comments that the frequency of the species in the wild in unknown.  So, is it actually rare?  Perhaps, at least in the Guiana Shield area of South America.  I recently asked Dutch naturalist Joep Moonen for additional information on the species.  Joep lives and works in the rain forests of French Guiana and often takes botanists into the jungle in search of rare and unusual specimens.  In response, Joep made this remark, "I collected A. hookeri (I think) only in South Suriname in 1983 at an inselberg at 2000 feet high.  I do not think the species lives in lowland forests, perhaps it is too hot. I will ask people that go to Martinique to look for them."   And in a follow-up message, Joep continued,  "I have never seen one on our excursions or expeditions in the Guianas apart from an expedition in 1983 to the very south of Suriname."

According to the scientific description (see below), Anthurium hookeri has roots that are very dense and the internodes (distance between nodes on the petioles) is short.  For those new to botanical terminology, a petiole is the portion of the leaf that supports the leaf blade and is often known to gardeners as the "stem".  The petiole should be triangular to "D" shaped.  The shape, triangular to "D", refers to the appearance of the petiole when cut as a cross section.  The cataphylls are the plant structures that form around any new leaf as it is beginning to emerge and are typically 20 to 26cm in length (7.8 inches to 10.25 inches). However, these may be much smaller on a young specimen.  The leaf blades of the true species grow in a rosette cluster similar to many birds nest forms, but A. hookeri is scientifically not a member of section Pachyneurium which contains the birds nest Anthurium species. 

The actual section placement is still under scientific study, however this message from Dr. Croat helps to explain the current research, "I personally think that it is in a new section of its own.  It differs from any other section in having scalariforme veins and glandular punctations. We had hoped that molecular studies would help to sort out some of these questions but the last I heard my student Monica had not really gotten good resolution on all the sections."   Without actually possessing the " ruffled" edges most collectors assume are common to the species, the leaves are thick and leathery to the touch.  That thick leathery condition is known to a scientist as being coriacious.  Black glandular punctates (similar to "dots") can be seen on the undersides of the leaf.  A fully grown leaf should have 9 to 15 veins on each side of the center leaf vein and can be up to 89cm long (roughly 3 feet). The peduncle (which supports the spathe and spadix) can be up to 47cm long or 18.5 inches.  The spathe is commonly known to a grower as the "flower", but in fact is simply a modified leaf.  The spathe is green with a purple tinge and is cylindrically tapered. The seed berries are whitish in color (not red) and form on a bluish spadix.  Anthurium hookeri produces an unimpressive inflorescence which hangs spreading-pendent (downward) alongside the bluish spadix on which the seed berries can develop once pollinated.  The spadix stands erect.  You can find indications on some websites (including one scientific source) which indicates the seed berries of Anthurium hookeri are red.  However, you can see the actual scientific description below (provided by Dr. Croat) which clearly says the berries are whitish in color as well as oval/oblong.

The scientific name Anthurium hookeri is apparently often applied to several hybrid Anthurium that are not truly related.  It is probable the vast majority of specimens sold in South Florida aren't actually this species, but instead are hybrids simply using the name "Anthurium hookeri".  One well known Florida nursery owner sent this message after reading this page, "As many nurserymen down here know, Anthurium hookeri is a catch all name applied to all bird nest type Anthuriums regardless of true taxonomic origins."  This email from Dr. Tom Croat to the members of the forum Aroid l offers a more positive way to determine if a specimen is truly Anthurium hookeri,  "Anthurium hookeri, which has scalariform veins (ladder-like) extending between the primary lateral veins.  You can definitively prove it one way or the other though.  If your plant has tiny black glandular dots on the lower surface and/or if it has supervolute vernation (rather than involute vernation) it is A. hookeri.  If it lacks either it is a member of Anthurium section Pachyneurium series Pachyneurium."    Aroid expert Julius Boos explained further regarding supervolute vernation, "Supervolute vernation is the way the very young emerging leaves are 'folded', (see page 347 of Deni Bown`s book Aroids, Plants of the Arum Family to see what involute verrnation looks like.  Check this on most of your birds nest Anthuriums, very interesting when you notice it for the first time.   Supervolute vernation is very much like what Deni calls convulute vernation which is what Anthurium hookeri has and what makes it different from all other birds nest Anthuriums, all of which Tom says have involute vernation."  The lack of the glandular dots (known as glandular punctates) and "ladder like" veins precludes many of the specimens in collections and landscapes from actually being Anthurium hookeri.  And please note, according to the scientific description and Dr. Croat, the berries are whitish.  That information alone rules out many of the plants which commercial growers have attempted to grant the name Anthurium hookeri since those plants produce red berries.

For some odd reason, many websites and sellers, especially on eBay, describe their hybrid specimen as Anthurium hookerii (with two i's).  That is not a correct scientific spelling which can be confirmed on any of the major botanical name base websites.  There are also those who are selling a plant they call "Anthurium hookeri Ruffles".  Scientifically, there is no such species.  The common name Anthurium Ruffles is often given to a rarer species known to science as Anthurium plowmanii. That species commonly has ruffled edges but is not closely related to Anthurium hookeri.  The species are found thousands of miles apart in nature.  The common name "Ruffles" appears to be the creation of a tissue culture firm in Florida.  And there is another plant known by sellers as Anthurium hookeri 'Marie'.  That specimen is also apparently a hybrid.  Since these specimens are apparently now commonly hybridized in portions of the world, please bear in mind a hybridized specimen is not the same as the scientific species.  A hybridized plant has been genetically modified by combining the DNA of several species.  Although it may be common to call a hybrid form "Anthurium hookeri", in fact it is no longer the species but instead is a combination of several species.  And since many of these hybrids have few, if any, of the notable features of the true species they may not be related to the true Anthurium hookeri in any way.

A resident of the Caribbean, Anthurium hookeri loves high humidity, thus lots of water.  But being an epiphyte it also needs very fast draining soil in order to prosper.  Typically, an epiphyte does not have its roots in soil.  Instead, the roots are simply attached to the host tree and suspended in the air.  As a result, grow this species in very well draining soil that will not remain soggy.  We prefer a soil mixture of moisture control soil, peat moss, Perlite, and orchid potting media containing both charcoal, bark, and gravel to keep the mix very fast draining.   Keep it in filtered bright light and high humidity for best growth.  

We have two specimens we have thought for many years to be Anthurium hookeri.  Neither truly is!  Both were formally residents of the now defunct Orchid Jungle Park south of Miami, FL and were rescued by a grounds keeper after Hurricane Andrew destroyed the entire park in 1992.   But the absence of the "black dots" and ladder-like veins along with the production of red berries has proven neither is truly Anthurium hookeri.  Both are apparently hybrids of species within section Pachyneurium. 

This is the scientific description:

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