The family of monocotyledonous plants Aroid Araceae has more than a hundred genera and about two thousand species. The distribution range of aroids is very wide - tropical, subtropical and even temperate zones on different continents of both hemispheres of the Earth, but the vast majority of the family are tropical plants. Many aroids contain poisonous milky juice.
An extensive family of plants of graceful shape with excellent color of leaves with cob-shaped inflorescences. The ear consists of many small flowers, but looks like a single flower. Inflorescence sizes range from small to very large, even giant. At the same time, some aroid bedspreads tightly cover the ear, others are widely bent.
Anthurium and some other aroid plants have colored covers or wings of various colors (white, pink, red, etc.) or are distinguished by the beautiful shape and color of the leaves. In many genera, aroid inflorescences have an unpleasant odor, designed to attract flies and other insects for pollination.
Aroid leaves are arranged in turn, the base of the petiole tightly covers the stem, usually the petioles are quite long. Large leaves in some aroids have a metallic sheen, in others they are velvety, with various shades of green or variegated. The shape of the leaves is arrow-shaped, heart-shaped, long-shaped, in rare species there are crayless belt-like leaves. The shape of the plant itself is shrub-shaped and vines, there are erect plants and lying giant herbs.
Among the aroids are land plants and epiphytes. And also quite a lot of wetland plants. By the way, it is the aroid family that owns the smallest flowering plants on Earth - the genus Wolfia Wolffia - Wolfia root-free Wolffia arrhiza. These are green plates floating on the surface of the water about 1 mm in diameter. And lo and behold - these crumbs are blooming! Aquarists grow babies.
Due to this diversity, the aroid family is divided into 8 subfamilies (Aroideae, Gymnostachydoideae, Callaceae, or White-winged Calloideae, Lasioideae, Monsteroideae, Orontiaceae Orontioideae, Pothoideae, Duckweed Lemnoideae)
The main groups of the aroid family
| Tuberous | Lianas | Bush-shaped |
|---|---|---|
| Their peculiarity is that they have a pronounced period of rest. In this case, the plant completely loses its leaves. | They do not have a pronounced period of rest. These plants need support and have aerial roots. They can also be grown as ampel plants. | They do not require support and have no aerial roots. The dormant period is not pronounced or manifests as growth arrest under certain conditions. |
| Amorphophallus, Zamiakulkas, Caladium, Sauromatum | Monstera, Singonium, Scindapsus, Philodendron | Aglaonema, Alocasia, Air, Anthurium, Diffenbachia, Spatifillum |
Aroid care
- In summer, keep plants on windows facing north, east and west, and in winter on windows located on the south side of the house. I.e. in spring and summer you need shading from midday sunlight, and in winter the lighting should be very good, so direct rays are only useful.
- Wrap the stem and aerial roots with aroid moss, cover the ground with them in pots, since there are usually many roots on the surface of the pot, keep the moss moist.
- Almost all aroid moisture-loving and require abundant watering in the spring-summer period (with the exception of succulent plants, for example, zamiakulkas). For creepers and shrubby aroid, watering is somewhat reduced in autumn, but the soil should not dry out. Tuberous aroids, after they shed their leaves, do not water until the moment of new growth.
- For most aroid soil should be something like this: a mixture of light sod, humus, leaf earth and sand with the addition of wood birch coal. The main requirement for soil is looseness.
Almost all aroids love high humidity. True, it should be noted that they tolerate dry air in different ways - some require regular spraying, especially in summer and in the heating season (alocasia, anthurium), others can do without spraying, if they are not kept in close proximity to a heat source (spatiphyllum, scindapsus).