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Aroids |
| What's an Aroid? Suffice it to say it's a vastly diverse and fascinating group of plants that I'm only just beginning to really appreciate. I've always grown the native Jack-In-the-Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum, that you can read about in the What's Growing section. As I learned more about aroids I discovered that several of the tender plants I already grow are members of this group. All them are characterized by interesting flowers composed of a spadix, the central, sticking-up part and a spathe, a wrapping of some sort. Once you start looking at the flowers, the relationship among these plants is obvious. |
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This bloom of Arisaema fargesii clearly shows it's relationship to our native jacks. It has pronounced stripes of rich mohogany and what looks like white. On closer inspection, though, I found that the white looking stripes are actually translucent and if you get down on the ground and look up at the flower you can see light shining through it. The leaves on this species are more rounded than the local jacks and are quite large. |
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| This is a flower of Caladium candidum which is grown for its white foliage with green veins. |
This is the flower of some elephant ears I have which I believe are Colocasia. A small leaf is visible behind the flower. I grow them in a wide, shallow pot that is essentially full of mud that remains constantly wet. |
This is the flower of Sauromatum venosum. In a word, it stinks. I didn't realize the severity of its stench as it was sitting in the livingroom looking exotic (left.) Then, while I was sitting there minding my own business reading the newspaper, I suddenly realized I could smell something like a combination of various forms of wildlife in week-old roadkill format. Realizing the weird flower had opened, I rushed it outside (middle, right) where I was able to appreciate the subtle beauty of the inside of the spathe with the benefit of a light breeze. As I write this, two of these far-out blooms have started to emerge in their pot in the guest room. I'm hoping for warm enough weather to place them outside at least temporarily when they open. In summer the tuber sends up a fantastic leaf that I'll add here as soon as I can. |
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| These are Calla. Everybody knows calla lilies. They're aroids, too. My friend, Tom, gave me something like five tubers years ago and every year they multiply and I end up with more. One year I ended up giving two thirds of them away to neighbors just so I wouldn't have to plant and water the darn things. That was the same year I planted some in the ground--usually I just grow them in pots--and left them over winter to die. Much to my surprise, they came back the next year! That was during El Nino. I don't think I could get away with it in a normal Wisconsin winter. |
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