This document provides information about the Araceae plant family. It lists examples of plants from different habitats and growth forms, including terrestrial, aquatic, shrub, vine and herb. It then describes characteristics of the roots, stems, leaves, inflorescence, flowers, perianth, stamens, gynoecium, fruit, and seeds that are common among members of this plant family. It also divides the family Araceae into several subfamilies including Lemnaceae/Lemnoideae, Calloideae, and Pothoideae, providing one example genus for each.

1. Araceae

2. Terrestrial Plant Habitat Symplocarpusfoetidus (skunk cabbage) Arisaematriphyllum (jack-in-the-pulpit)

3. Aquatic Plant Habitat Orontiumaquaticum (golden club) Lemnatrisulca(star duckweed)

4. Shrub Plant Habit Aglaonemacommutatum (Philippine evergreen)

5. Vine Plant Habit Syngoniumpodophyllum (arrowhead vine)

6. Herb Plant Habit Anthuriumcordatum (organ mountain laceleaf)

7. Roots -often mycorrhizal, without root hairs

8. Stems Colocasiaesculenta -rhizoomatous, cormose, tuberous, or reduced -can be aerial, creeping, subterranean, or appressed-climbing -frequently scandent, rarely erect, hardened, and armed, or not differentiated into stem or leaf

9. Leaves - simple, bifacial, spiral, or distichous, sometimes highly divided or fenestrate (often exhibiting heteroblasty), with parallel, penni-parallel, or netted venation

10. - terminal, many-flowered spadix (with a sterile apical portion in some), usually subtended by a prominent, often colored spathe, or reduced Inflorescence

11. Flowers - small, bisexual or unisexual (female flowers often proximal, and the male distal on a spadix), actinomorphic, sessile, ebracteate, hypogynous, sometimes foul-smelling (A) Early stage of development of the inflorescence showing the appendix (smooth upper portion) and the floral zone (lower portion with floral primordia). The arrow indicates the separation between the appendix proper and the basal stipeportion of the inflorescence. (B) floral portion of the inflorescence: B, bristle; M, male flower; F, female flower; arrows, atypical flowers; asterisk, nearly enclosed ovary. (C) Early stage of initiation of female flowers. (D) Development of the ovary wall (O) of female flowers (E) Close up of two atypical flowers (arrows).

12. Perianth -biseriate and 2+2 or 3+3 [4+4] or absent, apotepalous or basally syntepalous, a hypanthium absent

13. Stamens - 4, 6, or 8, distinct or connate, antitepalous in bisexual flowers; anthers are poricidal, longitudinal, or transverse in dehiscence

14. Gynoecium - syncarpous, with a superior ovary, 3 carpels, usually as many locules as carpels, style and stigma one and short or absent; placentation is variable; ovules are usually anatropous and bitegmic

15. Fruit - typically a multiple of berries, less often dry, e.g., of utricles

16. Seeds - oily (sometimes also starchy) endospermous (rarely endosperm absent) with a sometimes fleshy seed coat Jack-in-the-pulpit Arisaemaatrorubens

17. -traditionally divided into several subfamilies Araceae

19. Pothoideae Anthuriumandraeanum -consists of four genera namely, Anthurium, Pothos, Pedicellarum and Pothoidium.