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.
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.
Nephthytis is a genus of eight species of flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to tropical western Africa, with one species in Borneo.
Rhaphidophora is a genus in the family Araceae, occurring from tropical Africa eastwards through Malesia and Australasia to the Western Pacific. The genus consists of approximately 100 species.
Carlephyton is a genus of four species in the family Araceae, all endemic to Madagascar.
Gymnostachys is a monotypic genus, of the monocotyledon plant family Araceae.
Aridarum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. All of the known species in this genus are rheophytic and are endemic to the Island of Borneo. The plant is aquatic and has willow-shaped leaves that are able to take strong currents without sustaining damage.
Stylochaeton is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae that is native to Africa. Stylochaeton are rhizomatous with hastate leaves. Flowering in this genus is said to be quite uncommon. Stylochaeton is the sole genus in the tribe Stylochaetoneae.
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.
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
Piptospatha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. The genus is characteristic is rheophytic and has seeds that are dispersed by splashes of water hitting its cup-like spathes. It is native to Southeast Asia.
- Piptospatha burbidgei(N.E.Br.) M.Hotta - Sarawak, Sabah
- Piptospatha elongata(Engl.) N.E.Br. - Kalimantan Barat
- Piptospatha impolitaS.Y.Wong, P.C.Boyce & Bogner - Sarawak
- Piptospatha insignisN.E.Br. - Sarawak
- Piptospatha manduensisBogner & A.Hay - Kalimantan Timur
- Piptospatha marginata(Engl.) N.E.Br. - Sarawak
- Piptospatha perakensis(Engl.) Ridl. - southern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia
- Piptospatha remiformisRidl. - Sarawak
- Piptospatha repensH.Okada & Tsukaya - Kalimantan Barat
- Piptospatha ridleyiN.E.Br. ex Hook.f. - Johor, Pahang, Selangor
- Piptospatha truncata(M.Hotta) Bogner & A.Hay - Sarawak
- Piptospatha viridistigmaS.Y.Wong, P.C.Boyce & Bogner - Sarawak
Gorgonidium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. It is native to South America. The spathes tend to be purple and the fruits are black.
- Gorgonidium beckianumBogner - Bolivia
- Gorgonidium bulbostylumBogner & E.G.Gonç - Bolivia
- Gorgonidium cardenasianum(Bogner) E.G.Gonç - Bolivia
- Gorgonidium intermedium(Bogner) E.G.Gonç - Peru
- Gorgonidium mirabileSchott - Bolivia
- Gorgonidium striatumHett., Ibisch & E.G.Gonç
- Gorgonidium vargasiiBogner & Nicolson - Peru
- Gorgonidium vermicidum(Speg.) Bogner & Nicolson - Bolivia, northern Argentina
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.
Orontioideae is a subfamily of flowering plants in the family Araceae. The subfamily consists of three genera namely, Lysichiton, Orontium, and Symplocarpus. Characteristics of Orontioideae include medium-sized pollen grains and subterranean stems. Species in the subfamily have a base chromosome number of X=13.
Pothoideae is a subfamily of flowering plants in the family Araceae. These plants are commonly called the true aroids. This group includes the houseplants commonly called peace liles which are select species from the genus Spathiphyllum.
Orontium wolfei is an extinct golden-club species in the family Araceae described from a series of isolated fossil leaves. The species is known from Eocene sediments exposed in the state of Washington in the United States of America and the province of British Columbia in Canada. It is one of several extinct species placed in the living golden-club genus Orontium.
Pursegloveia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the subfamily Aroideae in the family Araceae.
Xanthosoma paradoxum is a species of flowering plant in the family Araceae indigenous to Colombia. Initially described as Caladium paradoxum, it was later transferred to the Xanthosoma genus due to its strong affinity with other Xanthosoma species.
