Araceae

This family is characterised by its inflorescence made of a spadix (elongated structure gathering very small flowers) and a spathe, which is a kind of leave, sometimes coloured at the bottom of the spadix. So, what we call a flower for an Araceae is in fact an inflorescence. The inflorescence is not always spectacular, so the Araceae are often appreciated for their imposing, sometimes cut, perforated even coloured leaves.

Many species are exploited in horticulture as much as for inside (Diffenbachia, Philodendron, Monstera, Spatiphyllum) as for outside culture (Arum, Zantedeschia) and for cut flower production (Anthurium, Zantedeschia). But paradoxically, the majority of the 3 000 registered Araceae species is still not well known.

Tropical species
(aquatic, epiphytic or terrestrial, climbing or tuberous)

In this group we can find the most famous species (as an example, the genera Philodendron or Anthurium). Characteristic elements of the wet tropical forest, these plants often constitute a luxuriant vegetation.
Several species are cultivated as a food source, more particularly as replacement for potatoes (Taro = Colocasia esculenta, Malanga = Xanthosoma sagittifolium, Konyaku = Amorphophallus konjac) and many species are used in the traditional pharmacopoeia.

Geophytic plants from the Mediterranean area
(genera Arisarum, Arum, Biarum, Dracunculus, Eminium and Helicodiceros)

These plants have a vegetative rest period during the hot and dry season (from June to September) they stay as tubers. The first rains coming back, plant life restarts accompanied by Biarum flowering, whereas it will generally occur only at the end of spring for the other species. Most of these species use flies as a pollinating agent and so produce crimson inflorescences with a characteristic odour of an animal in decomposition.

Asian geophytic plants
(genera Amorphophallus, Arisaema, Pinelia, Typhonium, etc…)

These plants with their spectacular flowering (Amorphophallus titanum produces an inflorescence that can reach more than 2-meters high !), also have a vegetative rest period. The inflorescence then appears before or at the same time as the leaf, which is often unique and composed of a vertical petiole and the limb sometimes more or less cut out.

Next to the alpine garden and the school of botany you can find some Araceae from wet areas and temperate zones such as Calla palustris, which is on the threatened and protected species of France list, Lysitichon americanus, Lysitichon camtschatcensis or Peltandra virginica.