Monsteras and more: at home with arums
Tropical members of the arum family are among the most diverse and finest of all house plants – easy to grow, shade tolerant and boasting exotic, even unearthly, good looks
In the wild, most aroids (arum family members) live in tropical forests. To see them you'd have to search dimly-lit forest floors or look up to see vines climbing trees or epiphytes in the canopy. These three niches are home to the majority of the 3,700 plus species making up the splendidly exotic, notably diverse Araceae family.
Some aroids are hardy enough to survive in temperate climes; Arum italicum, Arisaema and British native lords-and-ladies (Arum maculatum) to name a few. When you look at their flowers, their relation to tropical species becomes obvious. Botanically, these are inflorescences, made up of many tiny individual flowers, and their distinctive structure defines aroids (see box, below).
Flowering aroids
If you have a peace lily (Spathiphyllum), calla lily (Zantedeschia) or flamingo flower (Anthurium), you already grow a tropical aroid. All show characteristic spadix and spathe inflorescences and are stylish additions to the home. Peace lily blooms are white, but breeding work in the other genera is producing spathes in an ever-widening colour range.
Aroid inflorescences are formed of a fleshy central column (a spadix) of many tightly packed flowers.
A spadix is usually surrounded by a brightly-coloured spathe (a highly modified leaf). Not all aroid species have spathes, but all have spadices.
Foliage aroids
Many aroids are grown primarily for their foliage and will grow well in dimly-lit corners few other house plants can tolerate. They can cope with irregular watering and put up with dry indoor air, making them among the most useful and lowest-maintenance of all indoor plants.
This article first appeared in the January 2020 issue of The Garden magazine – an exclusive monthly publication for members of the RHS.