Syngonium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to tropical rainforests in southern Mexico, the West Indies, Central and South America. They are woody vines growing to heights of 10–20 m or more in trees. They have leaves that change shape according to the plant's stage of growth, and adult leaf forms are often much more lobed than the juvenile forms usually seen on small house plants. The scientific name of the genus comes from the Greek words σύν and γονή and refers to the fused ovaries of female flowers.
Chusquea is a genus of evergreen bamboos in the grass family. Most of them are native to mountain habitats in Latin America, from Mexico to southern Chile and Argentina.
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.
Brassia is a genus of orchids classified in the subtribe Oncidiinae. It is native to Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, and northern South America, with one species extending into Florida.
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.
Weinmannia is a genus of trees and shrubs in the family Cunoniaceae. It contains 90 species, which range from Mexico through Central and South America including the Caribbean, and to the Mascarene Islands in the western Indian Ocean. It is absent from mainland Africa and Australia, but some fossils have been attributed to Weinmannia in Australia.
Dracontium is a genus of flowering plants similar to those of Amorphophallus. Unlike Amorphophallus which is found in the Old World, this genus has a New World distribution and is native to South America, Central America, southern Mexico, and the West Indies.
Desmoncus is a genus of mostly climbing, spiny palms native to the Neotropics. The genus extends from Mexico in the north to Brazil and Bolivia in the south, with two species present in the southeastern Caribbean.
Heteropsis is a genus of plants in the family Araceae, native to Central and South America.
Aegiphila is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, first described in 1763. It was formerly classified in the Verbenaceae. It is native to Mexico, Central America, South America, the West Indies, and Florida.
Renealmia is a plant genus in the family Zingiberaceae. Its members are native to tropical Africa and tropical America. In Peru, fruits and tubers are sources of indigenous dyes. and indigenous medical treatments for leishmania and malaria In Colombia, it is used to treat snakebite. Bracts and leaves can serve as phytotelmata, retaining small quantities of water that offer habitat for other organisms.
Rhodospatha is a genus of plant in family Araceae. It is native to South America, Central America, and southern Mexico.
Stenospermation is a genus of plant in family Araceae native to South America and Central America.
Polycycnis, abbreviated in horticultural trade as Pcn, is a genus of orchid, comprising 17 species found in Central America, and northern South America.
Urospatha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae that consists of 11 known species. They are found growing in South America and Central America in swamps, wet savannahs, and brackish water. The leaves of the species in this genus are upward pointing and sagittate (arrow-shaped). The inflorescences are quite unique; the spathe is mottled and elongated with a spiral twist at the end. The seeds are distributed by water and have a texture similar to cork that allows them to float. They also quickly germinate in water.
Montrichardia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. It contains two species, Montrichardia arborescens and Montrichardia linifera, and one extinct species Montrichardia aquatica. The genus is helophytic and distributed in tropical America. The extinct species M. aquatica is known from fossils found in a Neotropical rainforest environment preserved in the Paleocene Cerrejón Formation of Colombia. Living Montrichardia species have a diploid chromosome number of 2n=48.
Chlorospatha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. Chlorospatha can be found from Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Monstera dissecta is a species of flowering plant in the genus Monstera and family Araceae.
Philodendron opacum is a species of flowering plant. It has a native range extending from Southeast Nicaragua to Ecuador and includes Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama. Its habitat is largely restricted to the Tropical Wet Forest and Premontane Wet Forest life zones in Central America, but in South America extends into Premontane Rain Forest (Colombia) and Tropical Moist Forest (Ecuador).
