There are a lot of fake things nowadays. one of the worst is people selling variegated Monstera deliciosa seeds. Variegated Monstera deliciosa rarely comes through the seeds. One seed in some huge number may produce a variegated plant. The only sure way to get one is to but a cutting. But you would be surprised how many people buy these seeds without doing any research.
The thing now is that with so may people importing plants...the average Joe can import up to 12 plants from overseas without a special import license... and so many new inexperienced people wanting to jump in to the aroid hobby, people are misadvertizing plants and selling hybrids as species.
It is believed that almost ALL the the plants being sold now as Anthurium crystallinum are bench crosses of some kind. I have a 'pure' one, but I got mine back in like 2001-2002. Before all this crazy aroid crap started happening.
Many people cannot tell the anthuriums in the Cardiolonchium section (the 'velvet leaves' ones) apart in photos. Sometimes its hard for even really expert people (of which I am not claiming to be one) you need to see all sorts of defining characteristics like the shape of the petiole, how the petiole attaches, how the veining system arises and disseminates and on and on. In short you almost need to be a botanist.
So a lot of people are getting taken.
A case in point is an anthurium called 'Mehani'. Mehani was hybridized by a man in India in the early to mid-2000's and, along with a 'sister' plant called Nikki, was imported into the US by a broker and placed into tissue culture at Agristarts in Apopka. It was produced from roughly 2006/7 until 2011 and then production was discontinued. Nikki, the sister plant, was only produced I think until 2009. People like myself who bought a Mehani back in the mid-2000's in the first wave of production have the real deal. I have talked to the Indian gentleman who created this hybrid and he told me the parentage of both Mehani and Nikki.
Recently there has been a resurgence of sales of a plant that is being called Mehani, but it bears little resemblance to the actually original plant other than both being velvet leaved. It is commanding big money, and people who pay mucho and later learn that they do not really have the original Mehani are pretty angry. One of the entities selling this plant is a very well known Florida based aroid seller. They call their plant 'Crystal Mehani'.
I have a bunch of the real deal Mehani, I have made many divisions over the years, and right now, I have one that is making seeds and I am going to see what the progeny looks like.
