Anthurium Pallidiflorum V’s Vittarifolum: HOW TO TELL THE DIFFRENCE!

Recently, on Instagram, I was asked by another collector, how to tell the difference between Anthurium Pallidiflorum and Anthurium Vittarifolium. A good question and one that is often not very clear, especially here in Australia, where sellers are labeling the cheaper Vittarifolium as the more expensive Pallidiflorum. This has lead to Instagram and the internet being flooded with mislabeled plants and making it harder for people who are new to these plants to work out which is which.

I will admit, that when I was first starting out with Aroids, I was duped into buying a second Vittarifolium, sold as a Pallidiflorum. This was by a major Australian plant store and I only realised something was up when I looked a bit deeper and realised I had been misled. The seller had admitted it was mislabled 12 days before my perchase, on Social Media and kept selling it as the more expensive and saught after Palladiflorum. A big learning curve for me, that has lead to the knowledge, that I am sharing here in this article.

HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE!

So, here is what I have learnt from my own experience with telling the two apart!

First is the obvious difference. Pallidiflorum is a deeper green in colour and velvety in the most beautiful way. Vittarifolium may appear to have a velvety sheen in the younger leaves, but is not a velvet Anthurium. This of course isnt always easy to see when you are looking at a plant online.

The big difference and easiest option for a quick ID is to look at the leaf shape, specifically the base of the leaf, where it meets the petiole. The Vittarifolium has a pointed base while the Pallidiflorum is more rounded. See the pic below. With young plants, this is my first port of call and generally, its enough to confirm which plant I am looking at.

Other leaf differences that will help you to be sure include, Pallidiflorum having a more defined rib, that is light green and more prominent against the dark velvety leaf. It is also a thicker set leaf that runs into a sharp point at the tip. Vittarifolium has a less defined rib, is a slimmer strap leaf shape that gradually runs into a pointed tip.

As these plants mature and characteristics strangthen, the leaves become much easier to tell apart. Once you have your eye in, for what to look for, the mystery of telling these two Anthuriums apart will disappear.

So there you have it. Mystery solved! The differences are there and easy to find, now that you know what to look for. I really hope this article has helped and you can avoid being duped into buying a mislabled plant like I did.

Thanks for reading and happy growing. Xx

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