#araceae

• Amorphophallus campanulatus — The synonymous or historical scientific name of the species 'Amorphophallus paeoniifolius' (elephant foot yam), an exotic crop cultivated in tropical Asia for its giant edible corms. The species is structurally distinguished by a massive inflorescence with a wide, ruffled, and bell-shaped (campanulate) dark-purple spathe, and a short, bulbous, and wrinkled spadix.
• Amorphophallus rivieri — The historical or synonymous scientific name of the species 'Amorphophallus konjac' (konjac / devil's tongue), an exotic herbaceous plant in the Araceae family, native to the mountainous regions of China and heavily cultivated in East Asia. The species is remarkable for its single giant, complexly divided leaf, its dark-purple spathe, and the industrial use of its underground corm rich in glucomannan for dietary products or food gels.
• Amorphophallus titanum — The scientific name of a gigantic species of herbaceous plant in the Araceae family, endemic to the rainforests of Sumatra (Indonesia) and popularly known as the corpse flower or titan arum. It produces the largest unbranched inflorescence in the plant kingdom, consisting of a massive spadix that can exceed three meters in height and a ruffled purple spathe, emitting an unbearable smell of rotting meat during its brief bloom to attract carrion beetles.
• Anthurium — A genus of perennial herbaceous, epiphytic, or terrestrial plants in the family Araceae, native to tropical regions of Central and South America, highly popular as indoor ornamental plants (commonly known as flamingo flower).
• Anthurium andreanum — The scientific name for the painter's palette or flamingo flower, a tropical perennial in the family Araceae native to Colombia and Ecuador, famous for its heart-shaped glossy leaves and bright red waxy spathes surrounding a yellow spadix.
• Anthurium crystallinum — The scientific name for the crystal anthurium, a tropical herbaceous plant in the family Araceae native to the rainforests of Central and South America, prized for its large, velvety, dark green leaves with shimmering silvery-white veins.
• Anthurium forgetii — The scientific name for a tropical perennial plant in the family Araceae, native to the rainforests of Colombia, highly prized by collectors for its unique leaf morphology. Unlike most codegenerates, its large, velvety, dark green leaves are completely peltate/rounded at the base, entirely lacking a basal sinus.
• Anthurium magnificum — The scientific name for a tropical perennial plant in the family Araceae, endemic to Colombia, renowned for its gigantic heart-shaped leaves and characteristically square-angled, 4-sided petioles. The foliage features a deeply velvety, olive-green texture accented by prominent silvery-white veins.
• Anubias — A genus of aquatic and semi-aquatic perennial plants, native to the tropical regions of West Africa, belonging to the Araceae family; they are highly prized in aquaristics due to their tough, leathery, deep green leaves, and their unique ability to grow attached to hardscapes like rocks or driftwood via a robust rhizome.
• Anubias congensis — A distinct species of aquatic plant within the Anubias genus, native to the Congo River basin, characterized by elongated, lanceolate, large leaves oriented vertically on long petioles; it is a robust, slow-growing plant, excellently adapted to low-light aquatic environments.
• Anubias nana — The most popular and widespread dwarf species of aquatic plant within the Anubias genus, characterized by compact dimensions, short stems, and thick, glossy, dark green ovate leaves; due to its exceptional hardiness and slow growth rate, it is the benchmark species in aquascaping for decorating foreground and midground areas.
• Araceae — An extensive family of monocotyledonous, herbaceous plants distributed predominantly in tropical and subtropical regions, characterized by specific inflorescences consisting of a fleshy axis called a spadix, surrounded by a modified leaf, often spectacularly colored, called a spathe. This family includes famous genera such as Anthurium, Philodendron, or Monstera, valued globally as indoor ornamental plants due to their exotic and decorative foliage.
• Ariopsis — A genus of marine and brackish water catfishes in the family Ariidae (sea catfishes), distributed in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Americas; it also denotes a genus of perennial herbaceous plants in the family Araceae, native to tropical Asia, characterized by distinctive inflorescences protected by a spathe.
• Wild arum — A regional popular name attributed to certain herbaceous plant species of the Araceae family, characterized by tuberous underground rhizomes and specific inflorescences protected by an often colored spathe. In ethnobotanical terminology, the term refers to plants with medicinal or toxic properties, historically used in rural empirical remedies, closely linked to the morphology of plants from the Arisaema or Arum genus.
• Arisaema — A major genus of herbaceous, perennial, and tuberous plants in the Araceae family, comprising over 250 species distributed primarily in tropical and temperate regions of Asia, as well as North America and East Africa. These plants are recognized by their unique spadix inflorescence, often enclosed by a decorative hood- or funnel-shaped spathe (resembling a cobra), and by their remarkable ability to change sex from year to year based on accumulated nutrients.
• Arisaema candidissimum — Scientific name for an endemic species of perennial plants in the Araceae family, native to western China. This rare plant is highly prized in horticulture due to its spectacular spadix inflorescence, protected by a striped spathe in delicate shades of white and pink that emits a sweet fragrance, and its large, trilobed, lotus-like leaves.
• Arisaema japonicum — Scientific name historically or regionally associated with cobra lily populations native to the Japanese archipelago, often classified in modern taxonomy under the Arisaema serratum complex. The plant is characterized by an elegant, dark green or purple spathe, often with white stripes, and fan-shaped divided leaves, being an iconic element in the shaded, damp forests of Japan.
• Arisaema ringens — A species of perennial herbaceous plant in the Araceae family, native to East Asia (Japan, Korea, China), remarkable for its exotic inflorescence shaped like a recurved spathe, dark purple or green with white stripes, covering the spadix. This unique vegetative structure, resembling a helmet or a hood ready to strike, serves as a complex evolutionary mechanism to attract and temporarily trap pollinating insects.
• Arisarum — A genus of perennial herbaceous plants in the Araceae family, primarily distributed throughout the Mediterranean region and Macaronezia. Members of this genus are characterized by their relatively small size, sagittate or cordate leaves, and a unique inflorescence whose spathe fuses at the base into a tube, often resembling a monk's hood or a mouse's silhouette, giving them great ornamental and ecological value.
• Arisarum proboscideum — A species of perennial herbaceous plant in the Araceae family, native to the shaded woodlands of Italy and Spain, popularly known as the 'mouse plant'. This small-sized plant is remarkable for its unique inflorescence, whose purplish-brown spathe extends into a long, filiform, and curved appendage that strikingly resembles a mouse's tail, functioning to attract pollinating flies into the floral structure.