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.
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.
Cocoyam is a common name for more than one tropical root crop and vegetable crop belonging to the Arum family and may refer to:
Caladium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. They are often known by the common name elephant ear, heart of Jesus, and angel wings. There are over 1000 named cultivars of Caladium bicolor from the original South American plant.
Nephthytis is a genus of eight species of flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to tropical western Africa, with one species in Borneo.
Calla is a genus of flowering plant in the family Araceae, containing the single species Calla palustris.
Carlephyton is a genus of four species in the family Araceae, all endemic to Madagascar.
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 glabrous. 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.
Bucephalandra is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. There are 30 species of Bucephalandra which have been discovered in Borneo and have been formally described by S.Y. Wong and P.C. Boyce. Most of the species are found in Borneo. Bucephalandra are usually found growing as dense mats over stones or rocks in streams or rivers in moist tropical forest.
Aroideae is a subfamily of flowering plants in the family Araceae. It is the largest subfamily in Araceae and consists of about 72 different genera, and 2,300 species. Many Aroideae have spiny pollen grains without a sporopollenin outer exine layer and lacking an aperture.
Orontium aquaticum, sometimes called golden-club, floating arum, never-wets or tawkin, is a species of flowering plants in the family Araceae. It is the single living species in the genus Orontium, which also contains several extinct species described from fossils. O. aquaticum is endemic to the eastern United States and is found growing in ponds, streams, and shallow lakes. It prefers an acidic environment. The leaves are pointed and oval with a water repellent surface. The inflorescence is most notable for having an extremely small almost indistinguishable sheath surrounding the spadix. Very early in the flowering this green sheath withers away leaving only the spadix.
Jasarum is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. The single species that makes up the genus is Jasarum steyermarkii. It was discovered in 1960, but wasn't described until 1977 due to classification difficulties with regards to understanding this species. Jasarum is now believed to be closely related to Caladium and it may have evolved from Caladiums that once grew in seasonal swamps. Jasarum steyermarkii is an aquatic species that is native to two river systems in Venezuela and Guyana. It is found growing in acidic blackwater and is unique in that it is the only submerged aquatic species in Araceae endemic to South America. Jasarum steyermarkii has thin ribbon-like leaves that can get as long as 30 cm. Running down the length of the leaf is a clear midrib that has veins moving at right angles to the edge of the leaf. The spathes produced open above the surface of the water and are about 15 cm long.
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.
Zomicarpella is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. It is native to Colombia, Peru and Brazil. The leaves are hastate or sagittate. The chromosome number for Zomicarpella species is 2n=26. Additionally, the seeds have an endosperm.
- Zomicarpella amazonicaBogner - Amazonas State of northwestern Brazil
- Zomicarpella maculataN.E.Br. - Colombia, Peru
Scaphispatha gracilis is a species in the family Araceae. This species is native to Brazil and Bolivia, and has peltate leaves that resembles those in the genus Caladium. The species was described by Heinrich Wilhelm Schott in 1860 after he received an inflorescence of the plant. He had not however seen the plant itself and it was not rediscovered until 1976 when Josef Bogner collected tubers from the plant and successfully flowered them at the Munich Botanic Garden. Upon seeing the inflorescence it was realized that this was the plant Schott had originally described.
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.
Calloideae is a monotypic subfamily of flowering plants in the family Araceae. The single genus in the subfamily is Calla, although in the past under Engler's description of Araceae it included four genera, namely Lysichiton, Symplocarpus, Orontium, and Calla. The subfamily was subsequently made monotypic and given a single tribe, Calleae. Species in Calloideae are often found in marshy habitats in the northern hemisphere. Trichosclereids are not found in the flowers.
Petrocardium is an extinct genus of monocot plants in the family Araceae. At present it contains only two species Petrocardium cerrejonense and Petrocardium wayuuorum, the type species. The genus is solely known from the Middle to Late Paleocene, Cerrejón Formation deposits in Colombia.
