ARACEAE Arum Family | The Araceae are rhizomatous or tuberous herbs comprising about 110 genera and 1,800 species, usually with calcium oxalate crystals or raphides and commonly with milky sap. The leaves are alternate, simple or compound, petiolate, sometimes very large, and usually with a sheathing base. The inflorescence is a fleshy spike or spadix subtended or more often partially enveloped by a bract or spathe. The spathe sometimes resembling a petal and is large, and brightly or complexly coloured. The tiny flowers are actinomorphic (symmetrical about more than one vertical plane), bisexual or unisexual, and are sessile or sometimes even embedded in the spadix. The perianth (petals and sepals) of the tiny flowers is nearly always absent in unisexual flowers but in bisexual flowers it typically consists of 4-6 small, undifferentiated tepals that are free or connate. The androecium (stamens of one flower collectively) of a typical male flower usually consists of 2, 4, or 8 distinct or variously connate(closely joined or united) stamens that are opposite the tepals when these are present. The gynoecium (reproductive female part) of a typical female flower consists of a single compound pistil of mostly 3 but up to 15 carpels, a single style, and a superior ovary with sometimes one locule (compartment) and 1-numerous parietal ovules or more frequently 3 or more locules, each with 1-numerous ovules. The ovary is sunk in the spadix and rarely visible. The fruit is a berry. The often unpleasant smell of the flowers somehow attracts pollinating insects. |  |  | |  |
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| Scientific Name |
Generic Name |
Maltese Name |
Flowering Period |
Thumbnail Picture |
Status |
| Arisarum vulgare
Targ.-Tozz.
| Friar's Cowl | Garni Tal-Pipi | Nov-Mar |  | Detailed Profile | | | Arum italicum
Mill.
| Italian Lords And Ladies,
Large Cuckoo Pint,
Italian Arum | Garni | Apr-May |  | Normal Profile | | | Colocasia antiquorum
Schott
| Elephants Ear,
Coco Yam,
Dasheen | Għorgħar | Apr-Jun |  | Short Profile | | | Dracunculus vulgaris
Schott
| Giant Lords-and-Ladies,
Dragon Arum | Garni Qoxret Is-serp | Mar-May |  | Short Profile | | | Zantedeschia aethiopica
(L.) Sprengel
| Arum Lily,
Calla Lily,
Ethiopian Lords-and-Ladies | Buqari | Mar-Aug |  | Short Profile | | |
