Philodendron is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. As of September 2015, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families accepted 489 species; other sources accept different numbers. Regardless of number of species, the genus is the second-largest member of the family Araceae, after genus Anthurium. Taxonomically, the genus Philodendron is still poorly known, with many undescribed species. Many are grown as ornamental and indoor plants. The name derives from the Greek words philo- or "love, affection" and dendron or "tree". The generic name, Philodendron, is often used as the English name, "philodendron".
Cryptocoryne is a genus of aquatic plants from the family Araceae. The genus is naturally distributed in tropical regions of India, Southeast Asia and New Guinea.
Anthurium, is a genus of about 1000 species of flowering plants, the largest genus of the arum family, Araceae. General common names include anthurium, tailflower, flamingo flower, and laceleaf.
Pachypodium habitats consist of isolated, specialized, micro–environmental niches, generally xeric, rocky, frost-free areas within parts of western Madagascar and southern Africa. Pachypodium species are often indifferent to the regional ecological, biotic zone of vegetation, a fact which explains some of Pachypodium morphology and architecture. The large scale vegetation zones are in some cases irrelevant to the micro-environments of Pachypodium, in the sense that the xeric niches may be embedded in larger mesic biomes.
Meineckia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Phyllanthaceae first described as a genus in 1858.
The Madagascar dry deciduous forests represent a tropical dry forest ecoregion situated in the western and northern part of Madagascar. The area has high numbers of endemic plant and animal species but has suffered large-scale clearance for agriculture. They are among the world's richest and most distinctive dry forests and included in the Global 200 ecoregions by the World Wide Fund. The area is also home to distinctive limestone karst formations known as tsingy, including the World Heritage Site of Bemaraha.
Arisaema dracontium, the dragon-root or green dragon, is a herbaceous perennial plant in the genus Arisaema and the family Araceae. It is native to North America from Quebec through Minnesota south through Florida and Texas, where it is found growing in damp woods. It has also been reported from northeastern Mexico Plants grow 20–50 centimetres (7.9–19.7 in) tall when in bloom and after flowering reach 100 centimetres (39 in), and each grows from a corm. Normally, a plant produces one leaf with a long petioles, its leaf is composed of 7 to 13 leaflets, with its central leaflet being the largest one and with leaflets becoming smaller as they are produced distally, the leaflets are held out horizontally over the plant. During flowering in spring, a single slender, green spathe 3–6 centimetres (1.2–2.4 in) long is produced; it covers a tapering, long thin spadix. The tail-like spadix grows out around the top of its spathe. After flowering, up to 150 berries are produced in a club-shaped column. In late summer, the green berries turn orange-red, each berry produces 1 to 3 seeds. It is listed as a vulnerable species in Canada.
Cryptocoryne beckettii, also known as Beckett's water trumpet, is a plant species belonging to the Araceae genus Cryptocoryne.
Carlephyton is a genus of three species in the family Araceae, all endemic to Madagascar. The three species in this genus are seasonally dormant tubers. The leaves are cordate with a sub-marginal collective vein. The fine venation is reticulate. There are usually one to three leaves. The petiole sheath is short. Inflorescences are typical aroids with a spathe and spadix. It has no sterile appendix and its flowers, usually one to three, are unisexual. The spathe is not constricted and the lower part is persistent in anthesis. The berries tend to be orange-red. They are known to grow in tropical deciduous forests on limestone or basalt or in rock crevices.
Callopsis is a monotypic genus from the plant family Araceae and has only one species, Callopsis volkensii. This plant forms a creeping rhizome and has cordate-ovate leaves that are medium green and glaborous. The inflorescence is typical of the family Araceae, with a white spathe and yellow spadix. The spadix is shorter than the spathe and its male and female flowers are separated shortly.
Carlephyton diegonse is a species in the genus Carlephyton endemic to Madagascar. It is different from the other two species in the genus due to its directly superimposed male and female cones on the spadix and because there are no bisexual flowers and the top of the spadix consists of only sterile male flowers. The lead is pale green and shortly decurrent on the petiole. It likes a pH of 5.4-5.8 and can be found growing with Colletogyne perrieri and C. diegoense.
Ambrosina is a genus in the family Araceae that consists of only one species, Ambrosina bassii, and the only genus in the tribe Ambrosineae. This species is the smallest aroid in the Mediterranean, growing only to 8 cm tall. It is usually found growing in woodlands on north faces of hillsides and in humus soil that is covering limestone. It is distributed in Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, southern mainland Italy, Tunisia, and Algeria.
Arophyteae is a tribe in the family Araceae. It contains three genera Colletogyne, Carlephyton, and Arophyton. All species in Arophyteae are endemic to Madagascar.
Biarum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. It is composed of plants that are native to the Middle East, southern Europe, and North Africa. Biarum are often found growing in rock crevices and graveled soil composed largely of limestone.
Holochlamys is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. Holochlamys beccarii is the only species in the genus Holochlamys. It is native to New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago and is found growing in mud near lowland streams or rocky streambeds at high elevations.
Hapaline is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. It contains 7 species that are found from southern China to Borneo.
Typhonodorum is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. The single species making up this genus is Typhonodorum lindleyanum. The genus is native to Madagascar, the Comores, Zanzibar, Réunion and Mauritius. This genus is believed to be closely related to Peltandra even though Peltandra is only found in North America and there don't appear to exist closely related genera in the African mainland. There isn't fossil evidence to link the two genera so it has been proposed that there once was a genus in Africa from which the two genera had originated. The African mainland genus spread to North America and to Madagascar 50 million years ago before it broke off. Then the African genus became extinct and the North American and Madagascan genera remained.
The Ankarana Special Reserve tufted-tailed rat is a species of rodent in the family Nesomyidae. It was first described in 2009. It is endemic to Madagascar, in the Ankarana Special Reserve.
Little work has been done on the lichens of Madagascar, so while over 500 species of lichens have been documented, more are expected. Madagascar can be divided into two major habitats that can be associated with lichen distribution. Wet tropical areas of siliceous bedrock make up approximately two-thirds of the country, and are where most of the lichens have been documented. Dry tropical areas of granitic and limestone bedrock make up the other one-third of the country with just over 20 species documented in these habitats. The following table lists the species known from the dry tropical habitats. The majority are corticolous species that grow on the bark of trees or shrubs. A few are saxicolous; species that grow on rocks. The full list of 500 lichens can be found at.
