Araceae

Anthurium jenmanii, photographed by Phil Nelson.

Belongs within: Alismatanae.
Contains: Orontioideae, Lemnaceae, Aroideae, Monsteroideae.

The Araceae are a family of flowering plants in which most species have the flowers reduced and clustered onto a compact spike that is in turn subtended by a large, often colourful bract. Basal aroids include the settler's twine or boorgay Gymnostachys anceps of eastern Australia, distinguished from other aroids by its linear leaves, parallel venation, and a flowering shoot of a complex synflorescence consisting of three to seven short, perennating floral sympodia seperated from each other by a distinct peduncular axis with each sympodium subtended by a leaf-like bract (Nie et al. 2006).

Characters (from the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website): Cyanogenic glucoside triglochinin, flavone C-glycosides present; dimorphic root hypodermis present; sieve tube plastids also with starch; pseudopetiole bundles scattered; stomata unorientated, also anomo- and tetracytic; leaves usually with pseudopetiole, lamina and (pseudo)midrib, tertiary venation cross to reticulate, base with lateral (occasionally auriculate) flanges; inflorescence densely spicate [spadix], unbranched, inflorescence bract well developed, ± coloured, ± surrounding spadix [spathe]; flowers sessile, floral bracts absent; flowers 2-3-merous, in latter case median member of outer whorl of tepals adaxial, tepals ± hooded, with single trace, free (sometimes connate); anthers extrorse; pollen with ektexine present; septal nectaries absent; carpels (basally) ascidiate, fusion usually congenital, loculus usually with secretion, style at most short, stigma also wet; ovules ± unvascularized; fruit a berry; testa multiplicative, ≥5 cells across, often parenchymatous, or with exotesta and/or endotesta and mesotesta lignified, tegmen collapsed; x = 16; cotyledon not photosynthetic.

<==Araceae [Arales, Aranae, Ariflorae, Calleae]
    |--+--Orontioideae NS06
    |  `--Gymnostachys [Gymnostachydoideae] NS06
    |       `--G. anceps Brown 1810 CD07
    `--+--Lemnaceae TB04
       `--+--+--Aroideae NS06
          |  `--Lasioideae TB04
          |       |--Anaphyllopsis americana TB04
          |       `--Dracontium polyphyllum NS06
          `--+--Monsteroideae NS06
             `--Pothoideae TB04
                  |--Pothos [Potheae] NS06
                  |    |--P. ovalifolius TB04
                  |    `--+--P. junghuhnii TB04
                  |       `--P. scandens TB04
                  `--Anthurium [Anthurieae] TB04
                       |--A. guildingii TB04
                       |--A. jenmannii TB04
                       `--A. scandens J87

Araceae incertae sedis:
  Zantedeschia HE80
    |--Z. aethiopica (Linnaeus) Sprengel 1826 HE80
    `--Z. albomaculata HE80
  Adelonema YY22
  Aglaodorum YY22
  Alocasiophyllum YY22
  Amauriella YY22
  Aphyllarum YY22
  Asterostigma YY22
  Biarum YY22
  Bucephalandra YY22
  Caladiopsis YY22
  Callopsis YY22
  Chamaecladon YY22
  Chlorospatha YY22
  Diandriella YY22
  Gamogyne YY22
  Gearum YY22
  Gonatanthus YY22
  Gorgonidium YY22
  Hapaline YY22
  Helicodiceros YY22
  Hydrosme YY22
  Lagenandra YY22
  Mangonia YY22
  Microcasia YY22
  Philonotion YY22
  Pinellia YY22
  Piptospatha YY22
  Plesmonium YY22
  Porophyrospatha YY22
  Pseudohydrosme YY22
  Remusatia YY22
  Rhynchopyle YY22
  Scaphispatha YY22
  Schismatoglottis YY22
  Schizocasia YY22
  Spathantheum YY22
  Stylochiton YY22
  Synantherias YY22
  Syngonium YY22
  Taccarum YY22
  Thaumatophyllum YY22
  Theriophonum YY22
  Typhonium SVD02
    |--T. diversifolium O88
    |--T. horsfieldii (Miquel) Steenis 1948 (see below for synonymy) SVD02
    |--T. liliifolium LK14
    |--T. nudibaccatum LK14
    |--T. pedatum Schott 1857 SVD02
    `--T. peltandroides LK14
  Typhonodorum YY22
  Ulearum YY22
  Xenophya YY22
  Zomicarpa YY22
  Zomicarpella YY22
  Synandrospadix YY22
  Pothoidium YY22
  Dracunculus vulgaris Schott in Schott & Endlicher 1832 HE80
  Cryptocoryne P88
    |--C. ciliata P88
    |--C. cordata P88
    `--C. crispatula YG03
  Cyrtosperma S68
  Lasia spinosa BB07
  Anaphyllum wightii UB06
  Urospatha MM96
    |--U. caudata MM96
    `--U. friedrichsthallii MM96
  Landoltia punctata LK14
  Richardia africana Kunth 1818 C06

Typhonium horsfieldii (Miquel) Steenis 1948 [=Sauromatum horsfieldii Miquel 1856; incl. T. fallax Brown 1880, Heterostalis pedata Schott 1864 non T. pedatum Schott 1857] SVD02

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BB07] Baishya, A. K., & P. J. Bora. 2007. Cross community ethno-medico botany of Dibru-Saikhowa Biosphere Reserve, Assam. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 49 (1–4): 121–154.

[CD07] Cantino, P. D., J. A. Doyle, S. W. Graham, W. S. Judd, R. G. Olmstead, D. E. Soltis, P. S. Soltis & M. J. Donoghue. 2007. Towards a phylogenetic nomenclature of Tracheophyta. Taxon 56 (3): E1–E44.

[C06] Cheeseman, T. F. 1906. Manual of the New Zealand Flora. John Mackay, Government Printer: Wellington.

[HE80] Healy, A. J., & E. Edgar. 1980. Flora of New Zealand vol. 3. Adventive cyperaceous, petalous and spathaceous monocotyledons. P. D. Hasselberg, Government Printer: Wellington (New Zealand).

[J87] Judd, W. S. 1987. Floristic study of Morne La Visite and Pic Macaya National Parks, Haiti. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum—Biological Sciences 32 (1): 1–136.

[LK14] Lyons, M. N., G. J. Keighery, L. A. Gibson & T. Handasyde. 2014. Flora and vegetation communities of selected islands off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 81: 205–244.

[MM96] Mound, L. A., & R. Marullo. 1996. The thrips of Central and South America: an introduction (Insecta: Thysanoptera). Memoirs on Entomology, International 6: 1–487.

[NS06] Nie, Z.-L., H. Sun, H. Li & J. Wen. 2006. Intercontinental biogeography of subfamily Orontioideae (Symplocarpus, Lysichiton, and Orontium) of Araceae in eastern Asia and North America. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40 (1): 155–165.

[O88] Ohba, H. 1988. The alpine flora of the Nepal Himalayas: an introductory note. In: Ohba, H., & S. B. Malla (eds) The Himalayan Plants vol. 1. The University Museum, University of Tokyo, Bulletin 31: 19–46.

[P88] Polunin, I. 1988. Plants and Flowers of Malaysia. Times Editions: Singapore.

[SVD02] Sasikala, K., E. Vajravelu & P. Daniel. 2002. Typhonium horsfieldii (Miq.) Steenis, family Araceae, a new report for India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 99 (3): 581–583.

[S68] Simons, E. L. 1968. African Oligocene mammals: introduction, history of study, and faunal succession. Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, Bulletin 28: 1–21.

[TB04] Tam, S.-M., P. C. Boyce, T. M. Upson, D. Barabé, A. Bruneau, F. Forest & J. S. Parker. 2004. Intergeneric and infrafamilial phylogeny of subfamily Monsteroideae (Araceae) revealed by chloroplast trnL-F sequences. American Journal of Botany 91 (3): 490–498.

[UB06] Udayan, P. S. & I. Balachandran. 2006. Cleistanthus sankunnianus Sivar. & Indu Balach.—a rare and little known endemic plant rediscovered from wild populations in Kollam district of Kerala state, India. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 48 (1–4): 217–218.

[YG03] Yadav, S. R., & S. P. Gaikwad. 2003. A revision of the Indian Aponogetonaceae. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 45 (1–4): 39–76.

[YY22] Yampolsky, C., & H. Yampolsky. 1922. Distribution of sex forms in the phanerogamic flora. Bibliotheca Genetica 3: 1–62.

Last updated: 24 April 2018.