English: Arums; Aroids; Arum family; Arum order; Cuckoo-pint family.
Clades:
Alismatales;
Lilianae;
Angiospermae;
Plants.
members: 140 genera; ± 4000 species.
Members: All previously mentioned groups (Lemna, Zantedeschia, Monstera, Caladium, Arum, Lasia, Schismatoglottis) plus major genera like Anthurium, Philodendron, and Aglaonema.
Content: calcium oxalate crystals, microscopic raphides, in defensive idioblast cells; cyanogenic glycosides; hydroxytryptophane; sulphur compounds.
Use: food, starch; ornamental.
BotanyType: herbs; perennial; diverse, ranges from massive terrestrial "corpse flowers" to tree-climbing vines, lithophytes, helophytes, and microscopic free-floating aquatics.
Root: adventitious root systems; varies from thick, subterranean anchoring roots to specialized aerial roots capable of absorbing atmospheric moisture and grasping vertical surfaces.
Stems: extensively modified based on niche; including subterranean tubers, rhizomes, corms for seasonal energy storage, as well as highly elongated, fibrous climbing green stems.
Leaves: incredibly varied; fundamentally alternate; simple and linear to massive, deeply lobed, or compound structures; typically distinct petiole, with a sheathing base; characterized by complex pinnate, palmate, or reticulate venation networks.
Inflorescence: a fleshy spike, called a spadix; subtended and partially enveloped by a leaf-like, often colorful or specialized bract called a spathe.
Flowers: highly reduced; small; lacking petals; bisexual or unisexual.
Reproduction: predominantly sexual via specialized insect pollination; often deceptive, utilizing flies, beetles, or bees drawn by specialized scents and inflorescence heating; asexual via rhizome division, tuber offsets, and stoloniferous cloning.
Fruit: berries; fleshy, brightly; in spikes.
TaxonomyIn past classifications
Araceae has been included in
Arecales and Cyclanthacae, both families having spadix inflorencences. Lemnaceae, with the aquatics Lemna and Pistia are included in
Araceae. In the
Apg3 classification Araceae is included in
Alismatales, as the first diverging lineage.
Plant theoryIn the
Plant theory is split off from
Alismatales.
Araceae is placed in the Subclass
Aridae, which has a
Carbon series quality.
Aridae is the second subclass in the Class
Lilianae which has a
Silicon series quality.
Araceae is the only member of the
Aridae. This makes it necessary to treat
Araceae as an order, named
Arales.
Araceae and
Arales are identical in members, but not in hierarchy. The Order
Arales then is split into 7 subfamilies of
Araceae. These subfamilies are treated as Families. This way
Araceae becomes a superfamily, which is not further described, as the order
Arales takes over that function.
Families in Arales Serial Remedy code
Family, Subfamily
1 3-632.11.00
Lemnoideae2 3-632.12.00
Lasioideae3 3-632.13.00
Zantedeschioideae4 3-632.14.00
Aroideae5 3-632.15.00
Schismatoglottideae6 3-632.16.00
Caladioideae7 3-632.17.00
Monsteroideae