Araceae

Araceae Juss., Gen. Pl. 23. 1789. 'Arum Family'

Characteristic Features:

Terrestrial erect, climbing, or aquatic herbs with rhizomes or corms, or stem floating and reduced to globose or thalloid body
Leaves often large, mucilaginous, bifacial with parallel or netted venation
Inflorescence scapigerous spadix containing numerous small flowers, subtended by a large spathe
Flowers small, reduced, usually unisexual
Fruits berry or utricle with endospermous seeds and raphide crystals

Diversity:

World- 117 genera 3,368 species (The Plant List 2013); 114 genera 3,750 species (Christenhusz & Byng 2016); 119 genera, 6450 species (Mabberely 2017); 121 genera, 3770 species (CoL 2021)
India - 29 genera 126 species (Karthikeyan et al. 2009); 29 genera, 205 species (BSI, 2021)
Indian Himalaya- 24 genera, 98 species (Singh et al. 2019)
Uttarakhand - 19 genera 42 species (Uniyal et al. 2007)

General Characters:

Araceae in Watson & Dallwitz (1992 onwards)
Araceae in Stevens (2001 onwards)
Araceae in POWO 2021 (Plants of the World Online)
Araceae in Wikipedia

Systematic Position of Family in Different Systems of Classifications:

Systematic position in 2-Superkingdom, 7-Kingdom classification of Ruggiero et al. (2015)

Super Kingdom- Eukaryota, Kingdom- Plantae, Subkingdom- Viridiplantae, Infrakingdom- Streptophyta, Superphylum- Embryophyta, Phylum- Tracheophyta, Subphylum- Spermatophytina, Superclass- Angiospermae, Class- Magnoliopsida, Superorder-Lilianae, Order-Alismatales

Bentham & Hooker (1862-83)

Class : Monocotyledons
Series : Nudiflorae

Engler & Prantl (1887-1915)

Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Embryophyta Siphonogama
Subdivision: Angiospermae
Class : Monocotyledoneae
Order : Spathiflorae

Hutchinson (1973)

Phylum : Angiospermae
Subphylum: Monocotyledones
Division : Corolliferae
Order : Arales

Cronquist (1988)

Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Liliopsida
Subclass : Arecidae
Order : Arales

Thorne & Reveal (2007)

Class : Magnoliopsida
Subclass : Alismatidae
Super Order : Aranae
Order : Arales

Takhtajan (2009)

Phylum : Magnoliophyta
Class : Liliopsida
Subclass : Alismatidae
Super Order : Aranae
Order : Arales

Reveal (2012)

Class : Equisetopsida
Subclass : Magnoliidae
Super Order : Lilianae
Order : Arales

APG-IV (2016)

Clade : Angiosperms
Clade : Monocots
Order : Alismatales

Shipunov (2020)

Class : Angiospermae
Subclass : Liliidae
Order : Alismatales
Suborder : Acorineae

Genera & Species in Pantnagar

To see larger images please click on the names

~Wild Flora~

Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson

Lemna perpusilla Torr.

Spirodela polyrrhiza (L.) Schleid.

Cultivated Flora

Epipremnum aureum (Linden ex Andre) G.S.Bunting.

Vernacular name: Money plant, Devil's ivy

Nativity: Society Islands (POWO, 2019)

Common Characteristics: Evergreen climber with climbing roots, Leaves large, heart shaped, often variegated.

Flowering period: Rarely blooms, not seen flowering in Pantnagar

Propagation Methods: Multiplied by stem cuttings, and air layering (Dave’s Garden)

Photographed @ Yamunotri Bhawan

Syngonium podophyllum Schott.

Vernacular name: American evergreen, Arrowhead vine, Goose- foot plant

Nativity: Mexico to Tropical America (POWO, 2019)

Common Characteristics: Herbaceous creeper or climber. Leaves simple, alternate, dark green, arrow shaped divided into three segments mainly.

Flowering period: Blooms rarely,

Propagation Methods: Multiplied propagated by stem cutting (Dave’s Garden)

Photographed near Gandhi Bhawan