Why Plants Die
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Flamingo flower

Anthurium andraeanum, Araceae

Sources last read 14 September 2026.

Middling It gives warning, with time to act.

Also called Anthurium, Flamingo Lily, Laceleaf, Painter's Palette and tail flower.

Flamingo flower (Anthurium andraeanum), the whole plant.
Mervat Salman, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Flamingo flower is toxic

  • Not assessed for cats. This plant is not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
  • Not assessed for dogs. This plant is not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
  • Toxic to people. People and pets: harmful when eaten; irritates skin and eyes. Use gloves and protective gear when handling it. RHS

What the sources say about its care

Light
Partial shade
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Water
Moist but well-drained
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Humidity

No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.

ASHRAE recommends indoor relative humidity between 30% and 60% 30–60%
Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Temperature

How cold this tolerates, not what it prefers. No source read for this site publishes a preferred range for a plant indoors.

H1A — warmer than 15°C 15 °C
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Soil
Loam; pH Acid or Neutral
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to cats
Not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety.
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to dogs
Not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety.
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Harmful to people
People and pets: harmful when eaten; irritates skin and eyes. Use gloves and protective gear when handling it.
RHS · read 13 September 2026

How it usually goes wrong

Brown brittle margins with a green centre

On a flamingo flower the browning starts furthest from the midrib and works inward, and it crumbles rather than smears. The centre of each leaf is untouched.

Leaf margins are the end of the water supply, so they are the first tissue to run short when the air takes more than the roots can send. Penn State Extension cites 30% to 60% as the recommended indoor range, and a heated room in winter sits below it.

Telling it apart: Whether the damage advances. Dry air marks a leaf and stops; rot keeps going.

Penn State ExtensionFlamingo flower brown leaf tips and edges: causes
Buds form and fall before they open

The flamingo flower sets buds normally, and they yellow at the stalk and drop before they colour.

Sudden changes in light, warmth or watering cause buds to be abandoned, because a bud is expensive and the plant cannot tell whether conditions will recover. Its source describes partial shade.

Telling it apart: A fallen bud under a magnifying glass. Insects or scarring point at pests; a clean bud points at a change or at water.

RHSFlamingo flower leaves falling off: causes
The plant leans hard toward the window

Nothing browns and nothing drops; the flamingo flower simply makes less, and what it makes is stretched and thin.

Its source places it in partial shade. In less light than that the plant cannot fund full-sized leaves, so it makes smaller ones and spends the difference on stem.

Telling it apart: What the newest growth looks like beside the oldest. Light changes what arrives next; feeding changes what is already on the plant.

RHSDiagnose leggy growth on this Flamingo flower
The plant yellows from below and the pot stays heavy

A sour smell from the compost is common on a flamingo flower, and the lowest leaves on each stem come away when pulled. The surface may look dry while everything beneath it is not.

Roots sitting in water run out of oxygen, and the first sign above ground is the oldest leaves being given up. Its source describes moist but well-drained soil, which is air as much as water.

Telling it apart: Whether the drainage hole drips when the pot is tilted. Water still running out days later is the answer.

RHSFlamingo flower leaves turning yellow: causes

Not sure which it is? Ask the diagnosis questions for Flamingo flower.

Routine care

Watering
Water once the top inch of soil is dry to the touch.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
From spring to autumn, water generously and feed every 2 weeks with an orchid fertiliser. In winter, give little water and hold the temperature above 18°C.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Feeding
In the growing season, weekly liquid feeding is advised.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
From spring to autumn, water generously and feed every 2 weeks with an orchid fertiliser.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Repotting
Move it to a new pot every 2 to 3 years, and sooner if it looks rootbound, ideally in spring.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Propagation
Flamingo flower can be increased by division or stem cuttings.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Offsets, division, or cuttings of stems or rhizomes work in spring or summer. Seed can be sown fresh, kept at 24 to 27°C.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Pruning
Pruning is not needed; cut dead leaves or flower stems off at the base.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Pests and diseases
Can be troubled by scale insects and mealybugs. Diseases: root rot from overwatering, and leaf spot.
RHS · read 13 September 2026

Move something and watch

Loading the simulator. It needs JavaScript; the care table above does not.

Flowers of Flamingo flower (Anthurium andraeanum).
FlowersHung Ting, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Flamingo flower (Anthurium andraeanum) growing in a pot.
In a potLeo Michels, CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

About the plant

Anthurium andraeanum, also known as Édouard François André's Tailflower, is a flowering plant species in the family Araceae that is native to Colombia and Ecuador. It is a winner of the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026

Native range
Colombia to Ecuador
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Colombia to Ecuador
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Colombia, Ecuador
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Climate
wet tropical
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Growth form
epiphytic subshrub
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Epiphyte, Herbaceous Perennial, Perennial; habit erect
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Clump forming (evergreen)
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Size
Height 12–18 in; width 9–12 in
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Height 0.1-0.5 metres; spread 0.1-0.5 metres after 2–5 years
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Flowering
Flowers green, pink, red/burgundy, variegated, white
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Flowers red in spring, summer, autumn and winter; yellow in spring, summer, autumn and winter
RHS · read 13 September 2026

Common problems with Flamingo flower

Other Anthurium

More of the Araceae family

Plants with similar care

Sources

What this does not cover

The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.

Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.

If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.