English: Calla lilies; Arum lilies; Pig lilies.
Clades:
Araceae; ;
Lilianae;
Angiospermae;
Plants.
Members:
Zantedeschia aethiopica, Zantedeschia rehmannii,
Zantedeschia albomaculata, Zantedeschia elliottiana, Zantedeschia pentlandii.
Regions: southern and eastern Africa, South Africa; naturalized in Europe, Australia, Americas.
Habitats: seasonally wet or marshy areas, marshy grasslands, along stream banks, vlei edges, seasonal pools, rocky forest verges; surviving dry winter periods by going completely dormant underground.
Content: High concentration of toxic calcium oxalate crystals (raphides).
BotanyType: herbs; perennial; terrestrial or semi-aquatic; robust, clump-forming.
Root: thick; fleshy; arising from a subterranean stock.
Stems: modified into underground tuberous rootstocks or thick rhizomes; lacking true above-ground woody stems.
Leaves: large; entirely basal; long succulent petioles; leathery, shiny; sagittate, arrow-shaped or cordate, heart-shaped; often maculate (marked with translucent or white spots); parallel-pinnate veined.
Flowers: microscopic and highly reduced; arranged monoeciously on a fleshy, bright yellow spike called a spadix (male flowers packed tightly on the upper portion, female flowers on the lower portion); enclosed by a large, showy, funnel-shaped colored bract called a spathe.
Reproduction: sexually via insect pollination; asexually via underground tubers or rhizomes.
Fruits: berries; green, yellow, or orange; fleshy ;