Anthurium ("Wonder Boy Dark" x "Doc Block") x 'Amy'

(Wonder Boy Dark x Doc Block) x Amy

The seed parent is another Miami roadside nursery pickup, and this one came with its own provenance attached - a handwritten tag from Doctor Jeffrey Block himself, notating "Wonder Boy" along with a breeding date. Finding that felt like digging through a pile at Goodwill and pulling out a Mickey Mantle rookie card. The breeder in question has been allegedly cagey about crediting the late Tim Anderson for his role in these lineages, so stumbling on a discarded plant from that earlier batch, tagged plainly with "Wonder Boy," was a real find. It's a sturdy thing, magnificum-shaped, and it throws seed like it's got somewhere to be.

The pollen parent is 'Amy,' named for my mother. She earns her name on strong primary venation against a dark green lamina and margins that undulate just enough to notice. She came out of my own growing efforts, a naturally occurring selection I submitted to and got approved by the IAS Cultivar Committee. Her own parents, (crystallinum x magnificum) x (magnificum x nigrolaminum "Gigi"), are handsome enough but nothing you'd pick out of a lineup - proof that you shouldn't be so quick to write off the pedestrian-looking ones. Sometimes they're holding the good genes in reserve.