Spathiphyllum | |
---|---|
Spathiphyllum cochlearispathum | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Order: | Alismatales |
Family: | Araceae |
Subfamily: | Monsteroideae |
Tribe: | Spathiphylleae |
Genus: | Spathiphyllum Schott |
Map of the natural distribution | |
Synonyms [1] | |
|
Spathiphyllum is a genus of about 47 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to tropical regions of the Americas and southeastern Asia. Certain species of Spathiphyllum are commonly known as spath or peace lilies.
They are evergreen herbaceous perennial plants with large leaves 12–65 cm long and 3–25 cm broad. The flowers are produced in a spadix, surrounded by a 10–30 cm long, white, yellowish, or greenish spathe. The plant does not need large amounts of light or water to survive. They are most often grown as houseplants, however they are able to withstand the elements well enough to thrive when planted outdoors in situations that are hot and humid. [2]
Spathiphyllum is a genus of herbaceous evergreen plants with dark green foliage that can reach 1 to 6 feet (0.30 to 1.83 m) in height. [3] Rosettes of glossy, dark green leaves emerge directly from a low-lying or underground creeping stem. [4] [3] The leaves are elliptical or lanceolate, 4 to 25 inches (10 to 64 cm) long and 1 to 10 inches (2.5 to 25.4 cm) wide. [4] [3] They are supported on shoots (petioles) of shorter or similar length to the leaf. [3]
The flowering structure rises above the foliage, with a single white or greenish-white spathe (specialized leaf associated with the flower) partially surrounding the flower structure. [3] The spathe is elliptical or lanceolate, and 4 to 12 inches (10 to 30 cm) long. [3] It surrounds the spadix (short fleshy structure that contains the male and female flower parts), which is greenish-white or cream in color, and shorter than the surrounding spathe. [3] The spadix is covered in equal-sized flowers that contain both the male and female reproductive parts. [5] All Spathiphyllum flowers on a given spadix mature at the same time, and produce pollen for up to four days. [5] Pollinated flowers produce ovoid fruits that mature over four to six months, each containing up to eight seeds. [5] [6]
Members of Spathiphyllum are widespread in Central America and northern South America. Two species are found on Pacific islands: one on Cocos Island (S. laeve) and one in Indonesia and the Philippines (S. commutatum). They grow on the forest floors of tropical humid forests, in shady, moist or wet areas along rivers and streams, in river valleys and foothills. [6] [7] They often grow in colonies along waterways, and can be in places periodically inundated with water. [7]
Spathiphyllum includes 57 accepted species. [8] Several sections of the genus have also been recognized. Massowia, which includes the widespread American S. cannifolium and the Pacific S. laeve and S. commutatum; Dysspathiphyllum containing only the Colombian S. humboldtii; and the larger sections Spathiphyllum and Amomophyllum. [7]
Species include: [9]
Cultivated hybrids include: [10]
Spathiphyllum are popular houseplants due to their attractive dark foliage and contrasting white flowers, easy care, and variety of cultivars available of different sizes. [4] Commercially, Spathiphyllum plants are typically propagated by plant tissue culture, then potted up to multi-well plastic trays, then on into larger containers containing peat, pine bark, vermiculite, and/or coir. [4] Plants grow best between 70 to 90 °F (21 to 32 °C). Once at a size ready for sale, plants are sprayed with gibberellic acid, which induces flowering 9 to 12 weeks after a single treatment. [4]
It lives best in shade and needs little sunlight to thrive, and is watered approximately once a week. The soil is best left moist but only needs watering if the soil is dry. [11] [12]
The cultivar 'Mauna Loa' has won the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. [13]
At least one Spathiphyllum is used as food. The young spadix of S. matudae is pickled in vinegar, or cooked with eggs. [7]
Although it is called a "lily", the peace lily is not a true lily from the family Liliaceae. True lilies are highly toxic (poisonous) to cats and dogs, [14] [15] but the peace lily, Spathiphyllum is only mildly toxic to humans and other animals when ingested. [16] [17] Like many Araceae it contains calcium oxalate crystals, which can cause skin irritation, a burning sensation in the mouth, difficulty swallowing, and nausea, [18] but it does not contain the toxins found in true lilies, which could cause acute kidney failure in cats and some other animals. [19]
The grey mould disease was first noticed in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan during the 1989-1994. The Myrothecium disease was an important disease during the in vitro culture plant. The Bacterial leaf rot disease was noticed in Argentina in 2008. [20]
A plant can have is that from the leaf tip it will show water-soaked areas. [20]
Heinrich Wilhelm Schott formally described the genus Spathiphyllum – literally "leaf spathe" – in his and Stephan Endlicher's 1832 book Meletemata Botanica. It encompassed two species: S. lanceifolium (previously described as Dracontium lanceaefolium by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin in 1790) and S. sagittaefolium. [7] Examinations of similar specimens by others resulted in new genera: Frederik Liebmann's Hydnostachyon in 1849 and Karl Koch's Massowia in 1852. Schott redefined Spathiphyllum in 1853, moving S. sagittaefolium into the new genus Urospatha , and claiming Massowia and Hydnostachyon to be more appropriately Spathiphyllum. [7] Just five years later, Schott's Prodromus Systematis Aroidearum expanded Spathiphyllum to 22 species. [7] From there, the genus remained relatively stable. Collections that included type specimens of many Spathiphyllum were destroyed by fire in Vienna (1945, where Schott had worked) and by war in Berlin (where Adolf Engler had described several Spathiphyllum species). [7] George S. Bunting revised the genus as his PhD thesis work in 1960, encompassing a total 36 species. [21] [22]
The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe. Also known as the arum family, members are often colloquially known as aroids. This family of 140 genera and about 4,075 known species is most diverse in the New World tropics, although also distributed in the Old World tropics and northern temperate regions.
Amorphophallus is a large genus of some 200 tropical and subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the Arum family (Araceae), native to Asia, Africa, Australia and various oceanic islands. A few species are edible as "famine foods" after careful preparation to remove irritating chemicals. The genus includes the Titan arum of Indonesia, which has the largest inflorescence of any plant in the genus, and is also known as the 'corpse flower' for the pungent odour it produces during its flowering period, which can take up through seven years of growth before it occurs.
In botany, a spadix is a type of inflorescence having small flowers borne on a fleshy stem. Spadices are typical of the family Araceae, the arums or aroids. The spadix is typically surrounded by a leaf-like curved bract known as a spathe. For example, the "flower" of the well known Anthurium spp. is a typical spadix with a large colorful spathe.
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- 'love, affection' and dendron 'tree'. The generic name, Philodendron, is often used as the English name.
Xanthosoma is a genus of flowering plants in the arum family, Araceae. The genus is native to tropical America but widely cultivated and naturalized in other tropical regions. Several are grown for their starchy corms, an important food staple of tropical regions, known variously as malanga, otoy, otoe, cocoyam, tannia, tannier, yautía, macabo, ocumo, macal, taioba, dasheen, quequisque, ʻape and as Singapore taro. Many other species, including especially Xanthosoma roseum, are used as ornamental plants; in popular horticultural literature these species may be known as ‘ape due to resemblance to the true Polynesian ʻape, Alocasia macrorrhizos, or as elephant ear from visual resemblance of the leaf to an elephant's ear. Sometimes the latter name is also applied to members in the closely related genera Caladium, Colocasia (taro), and Alocasia.
Anthurium is a genus of about 1,000 species of flowering plants, the largest genus of the arum family, Araceae. General common names include anthurium, tailflower, flamingo flower, and laceleaf.
Arum maculatum is a woodland flowering plant species in the family Araceae. It is native across most of Europe, as well as Eastern Turkey and the Caucasus.
Spathiphyllum floribundum, the snowflower, peace lily, is a flowering plant in the family Araceae, native to northwestern South America from Panama east to Venezuela and south to Peru.
Zantedeschia is a genus of eight species of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants in the aroid family, Araceae, native to southern Africa. The genus has been introduced, in some form, on every continent.
Arisaema triphyllum, the Jack-in-the-pulpit, is a species of flowering plant in the arum family Araceae. It is a member of the Arisaema triphyllum complex, a group of four or five closely related taxa in eastern North America. The specific name triphyllum means "three-leaved", a characteristic feature of the species, which is also referred to as Indian turnip, bog onion, and brown dragon.
Zamioculcas is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae, containing the single species Zamioculcas zamiifolia. It is a tropical herbaceous perennial plant, native to eastern Africa including Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. Common names include Zanzibar gem, ZZ plant, Zuzu plant, aroid palm, eternity plant and emerald palm. It is grown as a houseplant mainly for its attractive glossy foliage and easy care. Zamioculcas zamiifolia is winter hardy to USDA Zones 9–10.
Arum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to Europe, northern Africa, and western and central Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region. Frequently called arum lilies, they are not closely related to the true lilies Lilium. Plants in closely related Zantedeschia are also called "arum lilies".
Aglaonema is a genus of flowering plants in the arum family, Araceae. They are native to tropical and subtropical regions of Asia and New Guinea. They are known commonly as Chinese evergreens.
Sauromatum venosum is a species of plant in the arum family, Araceae. It is native to Asia and Africa, where it grows in forests and riparian meadows.
Spathiphyllum wallisii, commonly known as peace lily, white sails, or spathe flower, is a very popular indoor house plant of the family Araceae. The genus name means "spathe-leaf", and the specific epithet is named after Gustav Wallis, the German plant collector. It was first described in 1877.
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.
Lagenandra is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. It is endemic to the Indian Subcontinent. The genus is similar to Cryptocoryne, but can be distinguished from it by its involute vernation. Cryptocoryne on the other hand exhibit convolute vernation.
Thaumatophyllum bipinnatifidum is a plant in the genus Thaumatophyllum, in the family Araceae. Previously it was classified in the genus Philodendron within subgenus Meconostigma. The commonly used names Philodendron bipinnatifidum and Philodendron selloanum are synonyms. This plant is native to South America, namely to Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, and Paraguay, but is also cultivated as a landscape plant in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate climates.
Anubias afzelii is a species belonging to the Aroid genus Anubias. It was first described scientifically by Heinrich Wilhelm Schott in 1857, based on material collected in Sierra Leone by Adam Afzelius, after whom the species was named. The genus Anubias was described simultaneously, with only A. afzellii belonging to it, which therefore is the type species of the genus. No other species currently placed in the genus Anubias was described earlier and A. afzelii was therefore the first species of this genus known to science.
Thaumatophyllum adamantinum is a plant in the genus Thaumatophyllum, in the family Araceae. It is native to South America, namely to Southeast Brazil, but is also cultivated as a houseplant in cooler climates.