Anthurium Meaning: Hospitality Is a Modern Reading — Four Victorian Dictionaries Skip It and Hawaii Got It in 1889

Anthurium means hospitality in modern florist guides, and the same guides add abundance and love, and most add happiness. The anthurium (Anthurium andraeanum), also called flamingo flower or tailflower, is native to Colombia and Ecuador. Its red heart is a spathe, which is a modified leaf, and the true flowers sit on the spike called the spadix. The meaning is modern: four Victorian flower dictionaries I searched do not list the plant, and the University of Hawaii dates its arrival in Hawaii to 1889.

This page is part of our flower symbolism and meaning guide. Where sources disagree, the disagreement is shown rather than smoothed over.

What does the anthurium mean?

Six florist and symbolism guides name hospitality as an anthurium meaning: Singapore Florist, Plantly, FlowersLuxe, Flowers of Charlotte, Westmount Florist and Symbol Sage. All six also name abundance, and all six give it a love meaning. None of the six names a flower dictionary or a dated source for these meanings.

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The takeaway is that hospitality, abundance and love are the three meanings every guide gives, and none of the guides names a dictionary or a dated source for them.

One reason behind the resilience reading does not hold. Flowers of Charlotte says the anthurium “thrives in both warm and cold weather”, while UF/IFAS Extension says it “requires frost protection” or should be grown as a houseplant in northern areas, and NC State Extension says it does not tolerate cold drafts or sudden temperature changes.

Where the hospitality meaning comes from, and where it does not

The guides tie hospitality to the open spathe and to the anthurium as a gift, and none of them dates the meaning. Singapore Florist says the open spathe “does not hide or close up like some other blooms” and says hotel lobbies and reception areas often hold anthurium arrangements. Flowers of Charlotte calls it “the hospitality flower” because it makes “the perfect houseplant no matter where you live”.

One documented story links the flower to hostess gifts. Ke Ola Magazine quotes the Hilo grower Harold Tanouye Jr., who recalled in a 2009 interview that as a college student in Iowa his mother “sent along a box of anthuriums as a hostess gift”. He said, “People raved about them; they couldn’t believe how long the flowers stayed fresh.” In 1964, back in Hilo, he looked into exporting and found the waxy, heart-shaped anthuriums prime for it. This shows anthuriums used as a hostess gift before 1964 and noticed for how long they lasted, and it does not show when the word hospitality was attached to the flower.

The Victorian dictionaries give hospitality to another plant. Greenaway’s Language of Flowers lists “Oak Tree” as hospitality and indexes hospitality back to the oak. Flora’s Pocket Dictionary (1870) does the same, and the 1884 Worthington book also pairs the oak tree with hospitality. Tyas’s 1869 edition heads its oak entry “Hospitality” and says the Celts regarded the oak as the emblem of hospitality, a virtue so dear to them that after the title of hero, “Friend of the Stranger” was their most valued designation. Tyas adds that the oak deserves the emblem because it sheltered Charles II after a lost battle.

The anthurium appears in none of the four books I searched. Searching the full text of Greenaway, Tyas, Flora’s and the 1884 Worthington book for “anthur”, “flamingo” and “tail-flower” finds nothing. The timing offers a partial explanation for two of them. The name Anthurium andraeanum was first published in March 1877, according to the International Plant Names Index, which is later than Tyas (1869) and Flora’s (1870). Greenaway and Worthington were both published in 1884, seven years after the name appeared, and neither lists the plant. I found no source that explains why.

Anthurium color meanings

Every color meaning for the anthurium comes from modern florist guides, and three of them agree closely on five colors.

The takeaway is that red means love, pink femininity, white purity, green growth and purple royalty in all three guides, and none of the three names a source for any of them.

Purple is the one guide color that the plant profiles do not name. NC State Extension’s profile lists red, pink, orange, white and green for A. andraeanum, and UF/IFAS Extension lists red, rose, pink, white, green and orange, “or other colors depending on the species”. Neither names purple. Singapore Florist calls purple a rare shade, and Plantly says purple only became popular recently. The palette is also a breeding result: Ke Ola Magazine says that in Tanouye’s early days in the business, which began in 1964, there were only three colors of anthuriums, red, light red and red-orange. Plantly says an anthurium’s color can change as it ages and with light, watering and fertilizer.

Spathe, spadix and true flowers: what the “flower” really is

The colored heart on an anthurium is a spathe, which is a modified leaf called a bract, and the true flowers sit on the spadix. UF/IFAS Extension says the inflorescence is made of the spathe, “which is a modified leaf, called a bract”, and the spadix, a “pale yellow tail-like cluster of flowers in the center of the spathe”. The University of Hawaii authors of the APSnet article say the long spadix “bears the true flowers and seeds”, and they note that the heart-shaped spathe is often referred to as the floral portion. Singapore Florist’s own page says the same: the heart is a modified leaf and the true flowers are tiny and sit on the tail-like spike. Flowers of Charlotte describes the actual flowers as little bumps on the spadix.

The two parts are easy to tell apart on a cultivated plant. NC State Extension’s genus page says the spathe is heart-shaped, waxy, persistent and at a right angle to the spadix, and says the spadix is erect, cylindric and sometimes twisted, with small flowers on it. The Royal Horticultural Society describes A. andraeanum as having heart-shaped, bright red spathes with a light yellow spike-like spadix, appearing throughout the year. NC State’s profile of the species gives a straight white or cream-colored spadix with tiny flowers.

The name describes the spike, not the heart. According to Wikipedia, Anthurium comes from the Greek words anthos, flower, and oura, tail, referring to the spadix. The common names tail flower and flamingo flower appear on the RHS page, and NC State adds painter’s palette.

The genus is large, and sources count it differently. UF/IFAS Extension and NC State both say over 1,300 species, while the APSnet article says over 1,500, more than 600 of them from tropical America. The peace lily (Spathiphyllum) belongs to the same family, Araceae, according to APSnet, and UF/IFAS says the spathe-and-spadix structure is common across it. Our peace lily meaning page covers that plant.

Anthurium in Hawaii: an 1889 import that became an export crop

The anthurium reached Hawaii in 1889, brought from London by S. M. Damon, according to CTAHR Research Extension Series publication RES-152. The publication gives the species as Anthurium andraeanum, a native of Colombia, and says that after more than 100 years of cultivation and hybridization it is one of the islands’ principal ornamental exports. The APSnet article adds that Damon described the spathe as shell-pink and that the plants were grown on the Damon estates at Moanalua before spreading slowly to other growers.

The takeaway is that the University of Hawaii record is a crop history: an introduction, a breeding program, a boom and a blight, with no symbolism in it. The blight figures use different scopes: CTAHR’s 2013 story says production dropped by half when the blight struck in 1985, and the APSnet article says production figures have decreased by 76% since the first outbreaks. Criley’s 1989 paper is the source for the 26.6% share.

Some florist pages describe the anthurium as a hospitality symbol “in Hawaiian culture”. FlowersLuxe says it is “often used in leis and tropical arrangements”, and Symbol Sage says it is also called the “Heart of Hawaii”. Neither page names a Hawaiian source, and none of the four University of Hawaii texts cited on this page (two of them read only as abstracts) mentions a hospitality meaning. I found no source for a Hawaiian tradition older than the 1889 import, so treat “Hawaiian culture” as a florist claim, and note that the one documented Hawaiian link is the hostess-gift story above.

Feng shui, Cupid and other tradition

Feng shui pages call the anthurium lucky, and the pages I read do not cite a feng shui text. Singapore Florist says the anthurium is “considered a very auspicious flower in Feng Shui practices”, that it is believed to attract positive energy, or chi, and that red is a “powerful activator of energy”. The same page links the heart shape to the relationship sector of the home, which it places in the southwest corner, and says pink or red anthuriums there are believed to strengthen romantic bonds. Symbol Sage says anthuriums are believed to bring luck in relationships.

The feng shui pages do not all describe the same plant. The Lively Root list of feng shui plants includes an anthurium, but its entry is Anthurium clarinervium, a foliage plant with velvety heart-shaped leaves, not the flowering A. andraeanum.

Two pages add a Cupid story. Singapore Florist says “some stories suggest” that Cupid’s arrows were tipped with anthurium blooms, and Symbol Sage says that in Greek myth anthuriums are regarded as the arrows of Cupid. Neither page names a classical source. The species name was first published in 1877 (IPNI), and NC State says the plant is native to Colombia and Ecuador. Treat the Cupid story and the feng shui placement rules as modern tradition, not documented history.

From meaning to care: keeping an anthurium blooming

An anthurium is a tropical perennial, and the showy species bloom several times a year. UF/IFAS Extension says they bloom 4 to 6 times a year, with each flower lasting about six weeks, and lists hardiness zones 10A through 11B; in northern areas it says to use the plant as a houseplant. NC State puts winter hardiness at zones 11 to 12 and recommends bright, indirect sun, warmth between 65 and 80°F and humidity of 60 to 80%. The RHS lists the plant as a houseplant, conservatory and greenhouse plant for partial shade.

Our anthurium growing guide covers light, humidity and soil in detail, and getting an anthurium to bloom explains what triggers each flowering cycle. If you plan to give one as a gift, note that NC State says the plant is toxic if eaten by pets or humans, and its toxic principle is calcium oxalate crystals, which it rates as low severity, so keep it away from chewing pets and small children.

Anthurium meaning FAQ

What does an anthurium symbolize?

Modern florist guides say an anthurium symbolizes hospitality, abundance and love, and most add happiness. None of the four Victorian flower dictionaries I searched lists the plant, so these meanings are modern.

What does a red anthurium mean?

Singapore Florist, Plantly and FlowersLuxe all say a red anthurium means love and passion. They add romance, admiration, or strength and courage, and none names a source.

What do white, pink, green and purple anthuriums mean?

The same three guides give white as purity and innocence, pink as femininity or motherly love, green as growth, and purple as royalty and spirituality.

Is the red part of an anthurium a flower?

No. UF/IFAS Extension says the colored part is the spathe, a modified leaf called a bract, and the true flowers sit on the spadix, the spike at its center.

Why is the anthurium called the hospitality flower?

Florist guides say the open spathe shows an open heart and an open home, and Flowers of Charlotte says it makes “the perfect houseplant no matter where you live”. None of them gives a date or names a dictionary, and all four Victorian dictionaries I searched give hospitality to the oak.

Is the anthurium native to Hawaii?

No. NC State says it is native to Colombia and Ecuador, and CTAHR says it was first brought to Hawaii from London in 1889 by S. M. Damon.

What does an anthurium mean in feng shui?

Singapore Florist and Symbol Sage say it brings luck, positive energy or romantic harmony. Neither cites a feng shui text, so treat the claim as modern tradition.

Are anthuriums poisonous to pets?

Yes. NC State says the flamingo flower is toxic if ingested by pets or humans, and the toxic principle is calcium oxalate crystals, rated as low severity.

Sources

1. Greenaway, K. Language of Flowers. George Routledge and Sons (Project Gutenberg ebook 31591)
2. Tyas, R. The Language of Flowers: or, Floral Emblems of Thoughts, Feelings, and Sentiments. George Routledge and Sons, 1869. Internet Archive
3. Flora’s Pocket Dictionary: A Lexicon of the Language and Sentiment of Flowers. Porter and Coates, Philadelphia, 1870. Internet Archive
4. The Language of Flowers, Including Floral Poetry. R. Worthington, New York, 1884. Internet Archive
5. Higaki, T., Lichty, J.S. and Moniz, D. Anthurium Culture in Hawai‘i. Research Extension Series RES-152, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR), University of Hawaii, May 1995. ScholarSpace record, Wayback Machine snapshot of 10 February 2026
6. Alvarez, A.M., Toves, P.J. and Vowell, T.S. Bacterial Blight of Anthuriums: Hawaii’s Experience with a Global Disease. APSnet Features, February 2006 (University of Hawaii Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences)
7. CTAHR, University of Hawaii. Helping the Community to Grow (impact story, 5 August 2013)
8. Criley, R.A. Culture and cultivar selection for anthurium in Hawaii. Acta Horticulturae 246, 227–236 (1989)
9. Gavelek, F. Flower Power! Ke Ola Magazine, Hawai‘i Island, May–June 2017
10. Graves, K., Wilber, W., Wichman, T., Lewis, C., Hansen, G. and Klein, R. Anthurium spp.: Tailflower, Flamingo Flower, Anthurium. UF/IFAS Extension publication FPS-42
11. NC State Extension. Anthurium andraeanum (Flamingo Flower). Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
12. NC State Extension. Anthurium (Anthurium, Flamingo Flower, Flamingo Lily, Laceleaf, Tailflower). Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
13. Royal Horticultural Society. Anthurium andraeanum (flamingo flower), plant profile
14. International Plant Names Index. Anthurium andraeanum Linden ex André. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Harvard University Herbaria and Australian National Herbarium
15. Wikipedia. Anthurium andraeanum
16. Singapore Florist. Anthurium Flower Meaning: A Symbol of Hospitality and Love (23 January 2026)
17. Plantly. Anthurium Colors and Their Meaning (26 May 2022)
18. FlowersLuxe. Anthurium Meaning and Symbolism
19. Flowers of Charlotte. Anthurium (flower meanings)
20. Westmount Florist. Anthurium (flower dictionary)
21. Symbol Sage. Anthurium Flower Meaning and Symbolism
22. Lively Root. Bring Good Luck and Positive Vibes with These 17 Feng Shui Plants (updated 29 October 2026)