Spathiphyllum

Last updated

Spathiphyllum
Spathiphyllum cochlearispathum RTBG.jpg
Spathiphyllum cochlearispathum
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Subfamily: Monsteroideae
Tribe: Spathiphylleae
Genus: Spathiphyllum
Schott
Spathiphyllum.png
Map of the natural distribution
Synonyms [1]
  • HydnostachyonLiebm.
  • MassowiaK.Koch
  • SpathiphyllopsisTeijsm. & Binn.
  • AmomophyllumEngl.
  • LeucochlamysPoepp. ex Engl.

Spathiphyllum is a genus of about 60 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.

Contents

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. It is most often grown as a houseplant. However, it can withstand the elements well enough to thrive when planted outdoors in hot and humid situations. [2]

Description

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 (a 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 (a 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]

Ecology and distribution

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]

Taxonomy

Spathiphyllum includes 59 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]

Selected species

Species include: [9]

Cultivated hybrids include: [10]

Cultivation and uses

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 and 90 °F (21 and 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]

Toxicity

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 can cause acute kidney failure in cats and some other animals. [19]

Diseases

Infection of peace lilies with Botrytis cinerea was first documented in Tokyo, Japan from 1989 to 1994. Myrothecium roridum has also been used to harden in vitro cultures of the plant. Alternaria alternata leaf rot was documented on peace lilies in Argentina in 2008. [20]

History

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]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Araceae</span> Family of flowering plants

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 114 genera and about 3,750 known species is most diverse in the New World tropics, although also distributed in the Old World tropics and northern temperate regions.

<i>Amorphophallus</i> Genus of flowering plants

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 to seven years of growth before it occurs.

<i>Dieffenbachia</i> Genus of plants

Dieffenbachia, commonly known as dumb caneorleopard lily, is a genus of tropical flowering plants in the family Araceae. It is native to the New World Tropics from Mexico and the West Indies south to Argentina. Some species are widely cultivated as ornamental plants, especially as houseplants, and have become naturalized on a few tropical islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spadix (botany)</span> Type of inflorescence

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.

<i>Philodendron</i> Genus of flowering plants

Philodendron is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. As of June 2013, the Plants of the World Online accepted 621 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.

<i>Xanthosoma</i> Genus of plants

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.

<i>Anthurium</i> Genus of plants

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, pigtail plant, and laceleaf.

<i>Arum maculatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Arum maculatum, commonly known as cuckoopint, jack-in-the-pulpit and other names, 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.

<i>Spathiphyllum floribundum</i> Species of plant

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.

<i>Zantedeschia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the arum family Araceae

Zantedeschia is a genus of eight species of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants in the aroid family, Araceae, native to southern Africa(from South Africa northeast to Malawi). The genus has been introduced, in some form, on every continent.

<i>Arisaema triphyllum</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Zamioculcas</i> Species of plant

Zamioculcas is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae, containing the single species Zamioculcas zamiifolia. It is a tropical herbaceous perennial plant, and is native to eastern Africa, including Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. Its common names include Zanzibar gem, ZZ plant, Zuzu plant, aroid palm, eternity plant and emerald palm. It is grown as a houseplant, mainly because it has attractive glossy foliage and is easy to care for. Zamioculcas zamiifolia is winter-hardy in USDA Zones 9 and 10.

<i>Arum</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae

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".

<i>Aglaonema</i> Genus of flowering plants

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.

<i>Sauromatum venosum</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Spathiphyllum wallisii</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Holochlamys</i> Genus of flowering plants

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.

<i>Thaumatophyllum bipinnatifidum</i> Species of epiphyte

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.

<i>Anthurium andraeanum</i> Species of plant

Anthurium andraeanum 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.

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.

References

  1. ↑ "Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families". Apps.kew.org. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
  2. ↑ "Is a peace lily an indoor or outdoor plant? - Gardening Host". 2022-12-23. Retrieved 2022-12-23.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Spathiphyllum". NC State Extension. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Chen J, McConnell DB, Henny RJ, Everitt KC (5 July 2018). "Cultural Guidelines for Commercial Production of Interiorscape Spathiphyllum". University of Florida IFAS Extension. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 Henny RJ, Chen J, Mellich A (15 October 2020). "Tropical Foliage Plant Development: Breeding Techniques for Anthurium and Spathiphyllum". University of Florida IFAS Extension. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  6. 1 2 "Spathiphyllum - Descriptions". Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew – Plants of the World Online. 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Bunting GS (Nov 1960). "A Revision of Spathiphyllum (Araceae)". Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden. 10 (3): 1–53. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  8. ↑ "Spathiphyllum, Schott". Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew – Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  9. ↑ "Search results — The Plant List". www.theplantlist.org.
  10. ↑ Edward F. Gilman (1999). "Spathiphyllum x 'Clevelandii', Fact Sheet FPS-555" (PDF). University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service.
  11. ↑ Anne Raver (February 13, 1994). "Need an Air Freshener? Try Plants". New York Times.
  12. ↑ Wolverton, B.C. (1996). Eco-Friendly Houseplants. George Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 23–25, 32–33, 58–59. ISBN   978-0-14-026243-8.
  13. ↑ "Spathiphyllum 'Mauna Loa'". RHS. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  14. ↑ Fitzgerald, Kevin T. (2010). "Lily toxicity in the cat". Topics in Companion Animal Medicine. 25 (4): 213–217. doi:10.1053/j.tcam.2010.09.006. PMID   21147474.
  15. ↑ "Peace Lily" . Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  16. ↑ "University of California - Toxic Plants (list)". Archived from the original on 2010-01-31. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
  17. ↑ "23 Common Flowers That Are Poisonous For Your Pet". www.entirelypets.com.
  18. ↑ "Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants - Peace Lily" . Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  19. ↑ "Peace Lily". Pet Poison Helpline.
  20. ↑ Mounika, K., Panja, B., & Saha, J. (2017). Diseases of peace lily [spathiphyllum sp.] caused by fungi, bacteria and viruses: A review.
  21. ↑ "Bunting, George Sydney (1927-2015)". JSTOR - Global Plants. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  22. ↑ Croat TB (2015). "A Review of Studies of Neotropical Araceae" (PDF). Aroideana. 38 (1). Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.