A NEW SECTION OF ANTHURIUM, SECT. DECURRENTIA - REVISION OF THE ANTHURIUM DECURRENS POEPPIG COMPLEX IN AMAZONIA

ABSTRACT A revision of 6 closely related species from the Amazon basin in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru is presented, and 4 new species of Anthurium are published as new: Anthurium ceronii Croat, A. payaminoense Croat & Lingán, A. sydneyi Croat & Lingán and A. whitmorei Croat & Lingán. Two species, A. decurrens Poeppig and A. longispadiceum K. Krause are redescribed because they have been, until recently, totally unknown or misrepresented by other taxa. The species are all members of a new section named Decurrentia, newly named here for the first time. All members of section Decurrentia have in common short internodes, elongated, epunctate leaf blades, and peduncles tending to be weakly or prominently ridged or winged. In addition, several of the species have early-emergent, elongated berries. All species treated here occur in the lowlands of Amazonia and have been confused with one another by botanists for a long time