How to Grow and Care for Anthurium Houseplants (Laceleaf)

Anthurium spp.

My favorite houseplant is the flamingo lily. It’s a type of Anthurium, a genus that includes about 825 species.

This particular species, A. andraeanum, has heart-shaped spathes that add vibrant color to my indoor decor without demanding a huge amount of effort on my part.

I admire colorful houseplants, particularly in the dark days of winter, and these have the added advantage of retaining their color over the course of weeks, not days.

Plus, when they’re not showing out in shades of red, magenta, orange, or yellow, the glossy leaves are attractive on their own.

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There are several other species of Anthurium you may come across, also being grown as tropical foliage houseplants, and they are striking as well.

Some of these herbaceous perennials can be grown outdoors in USDA Hardiness Zones 10 and up.

But if you don’t live where it’s warm, you can still enjoy these splashy specimens indoors year round, and that’s what I’ll focus on here.

Follow along to learn about the non-flower “flowers” on many varieties and discover how to keep your anthurium healthy throughout the year when you grow it indoors as a houseplant.

Here’s what I’ll cover:

Tropical plants that originated in tropical regions of North and South America, primarily Colombia and Ecuador, anthuriums are epiphytes.

This means they’re air plants that grow in the wild on the surface of other plants via aerial roots.

They are known by various other common names such as boy flower, flamingo flower, flamingo lily, laceleaf, and oilcloth flower.

The most unique trait of certain anthurium species is the part that gives the plant its color. They resemble flowers, and many folks refer to them as such, but they aren’t really flowers at all!

Instead, those vibrantly colored, heart-shaped portions of an anthurium plant are actually modified leaf bracts known as spathes, similar to what you would see on peace lilies.

Spathes serve a protective function while the flowers are developing, and they also help to attract pollinators when the time is right.

A spadix, a short inflorescence with a fleshy stalk, protrudes from the center of the spathe.

This is where the tiny flowers grow, arranged in spirals around the outside, and these are so small that you can barely see them.

One of the most colorful species grown indoors is my favorite, A. andraeanum, which grows about two feet tall and produces numerous shades of colored spathes.

Another is A. scherzerianum, which grows to about 18 inches tall and produces deep red spathes that have red-orange spadices at their centers.

This color combo probably inspired this variety’s common name, flamingo flower, which is sometimes applied to A. andraeanum as well.

A few other noteworthy anthurium species also produce spathes, but they are minimal, and these varieties are grown more for their striking foliage.

A. clarinervium, also known as the velvet cardboard anthurium, features deep green leaves with yellow-white contrasting veins.

A. crystallinum has a similar appearance, with less deeply lobed leaves.

Another variety that has fans among indoor gardeners is A. luxurians, though it’s rare and hard to find. It boasts puckered, leathery, dark green leaves.

Despite their differences in appearance, you can expect all the anthurium species you’re likely to see available for growing as houseplants to have aerial roots.

These are necessary for climbing surfaces in the tropics, but serve as a way to form new plants for propagation when you grow them indoors.

While A. andraeanum is commonly associated with the Hawaiian Islands today, it didn’t actually arrive there until 1889.

Samuel Mills Damon, the son of American missionaries, was a politician and banker in the Kingdom of Hawaii during the 19th century, serving on the board of sugar plantations.

He inherited a large piece of land called Moanalua from a Hawaiian princess and developed part of it into a botanical garden filled with many different species from around the world.

Damon visited London for Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee and brought back an anthurium plant for his collection.