Anthurium clarinervium
Anthurium clarinervium · the Skeleton Anthurium
It grows in wet, mossy cloud forest on limestone rock, clinging to karst outcrops in dappled shade. It is kept entirely for its foliage: thick, near-black, suede leaves laced with bold ivory veins that look like a ribcage.
Family
Araceae
Origin
Southern Mexico
In the wild
On limestone rock
Indoors
0.3–0.6 m
Growth
Slow to moderate
With pets
Toxic
Where it's from
Chiapas, southern Mexico
One corner of one state
A narrow-range endemic of the limestone karst of Chiapas, southern Mexico. It grows nowhere else in the wild.
It lives on rock
A lithophyte and epiphyte on limestone outcrops at roughly 760 to 1,160 m, which is why it wants an airy root zone.
Outdoors: zones 10–12
True tropical. Frost kills it, so it lives indoors almost everywhere.
The veins are the plant
Those bold ivory lines tracing a near-black, suede leaf look exactly like a ribcage, which is why Spanish-speaking growers file it under esqueleto, skeleton, plants, and its Latin name means clear-veined. The part everyone calls a flower? On the famous red florist anthurium the flower is a painted leaf. On this plant there is barely a flower at all. It ripens little orange berries instead.
Named for its veins
Clarinervium is Latin for clear-veined, after the bold pale venation, roughly a centimetre wide.
Velvet, not lacquer
A matte, suede, cardboard texture, the opposite of the glossy florist anthurium.
Berries, not blooms
The flower is inconspicuous. Fertilised flowers ripen into orange berries that nobody buys it for.
How to keep it
LightBright indirect
No direct or full sun, which scorches the velvet blade. Too little light gives sparse, dull growth.
WaterLet the top dry
Water thoroughly, then let the top inch or two of mix dry. Kept lightly moist but never soggy. Ease off in winter.
HumidityHighAt least 50 to 60%, with 60 to 80% ideal. Dry air causes crispy edges and stalled, deformed leaves.
TemperatureAbove 16°CWarm, with no cold drafts. No winter dormancy needed.
SoilChunky epiphyte mixBark, perlite and coco, often with orchid bark, charcoal or pumice, to mimic the rocky limestone root zone.
FeedingLight, growing seasonA dilute balanced feed in growth. Sensitive to salt buildup, so flush occasionally and ease off in winter.
DifficultyModerateMore demanding than the florist anthurium, but one of the more forgiving velvet collector species.
With petsToxicInsoluble calcium oxalate crystals. Oral burning, swelling, drooling and vomiting if chewed. All parts affected.
PropagationDivision of offsetsSeparate basal pups, or sow seed from ripe orange berries. Seed-grown plants of a hybrid will not match the parent.
RepottingEvery 2–3 yearsInto a snug pot when root-bound. Refresh the airy mix and flush salts.
What the data says
What it costs
An affordable collector plant, no longer rare in the straight species thanks to tissue culture, but firmly in the velvet-leaf collector world.
$20–60
Larger specimens and collector hybrids run into the low hundreds, and variegated clarinervium is the speculative tier, reaching the hundreds to low thousands.
IUCN · Not assessed
In the wild
Cloned by the thousand for our shelves, native to one corner of southern Mexico.
A. clarinervium has no published IUCN assessment, despite a narrow Chiapas range. Most plants in trade are now tissue-cultured rather than wild-dug, but a narrow-range karst endemic faces cloud-forest deforestation and a history of wild over-collection.
When it sulks
Brown crispy edges, deformed leavesLow humidity, the most common complaint, or dry drafts.
Leaf scorch, bleached patchesToo much direct sun.
Yellow leavesOverwatering and a soggy mix, or normal old-leaf aging.
Root rotDense, wet, poorly drained soil. Switch to a chunky epiphyte mix and never leave it standing in water.
PestsSpider mites in dry air, plus mealybugs, scale and thrips. Inspect leaf undersides.
Varieties & company
The varieties
Straight species× 'Ace of Spades'× crystallinumVariegated
Pairs with · keep apart from
MonsteraCalatheaFernsSnake PlantZZ PlantCacti
A new plant, every week.
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