Saturday, February 16, 2008
On any Anthurium there is a bump just beneath the leaf blade at the top of the petiole. That bump is called the geniculum. I have known it was there for many years. What I didn't know is the geniculum acts like a ''wrist'', and actually allows the leaf blade to rotate to align itself with the light source. It occurs only on some aroid genera including Anthurium and Spathiphyllum but not on others. The geniculum is used by botanists to determine if any new species is an Anthurium since Philodendron don't have it.
Steve Lucas
Steve Lucas