ARACEAE 131 



In dry thickets, Masambong, San Juan del Monte, etc., also occasionally 

 cultivated, fl. Jan.-Feb.; common and widely distributed in the Philippines. 

 India to Madagascar through Malaya to the Fiji Islands. 



6. CALADIUM Ventenat 



Herbs from fleshy subglobose corms, the leaves petioled, ovate to 

 oblong, sagittate or cordate, peltate or not, usually variously variegated. 

 Peduncles solitary, erect. Spathe-tube convulute, persistent, ovoid, some- 

 what constricted above, the limb boat-shaped. Spadix erect, shorter than 

 the spathe, the male part about twice as long as the female. Male flowers 

 naked. Stamens 3 to 5. Female flowers with a 2- rarely 3-celled ovary; 

 ovules numerous; style none. Fruit a many-seeded berry. (Name of 

 obscure origin.) 



Species about 10 with an indefinite number of varieties in tropical 

 America. 



1. C. BICOLOE (Ait.) Vent. Corazon de Maria (Sp.-Fil.). 



Leaves ovate to oblong-ovate, peltate, 10 to 40 cm long, apex acuminate, 

 base deeply cordate, the basal lobes somewhat spreading, usually rounded, 

 of great variation in color, the upper surface green with scattered spots 

 and blotches of red and white (var. wightii Engl.) or the entire center 

 red or pink (var. splendens Engl., or the whole leaf pale-green blotched 

 with still paler-green and white (var. alhomaculatum Engl.). Spathe 

 stout, about 10 cm long, the limb white, boat-shaped, the tube green, 

 often tinged with purple. 



Commonly cultivated and at least subspontaneous, fl. most of the year. 

 A native of tropical America, apparently of early introduction here. 

 There is an indefinite number of varieties based mostly on the different 

 variations in leaf -color and markings. 



7. TYPHONIUM Schott 



Leaves and scapes erect from fleshy corms, the leaf-blades entire, or 

 3- to 5-lobed or angled. Spathe with a broad, short tube which is per- 

 sistent and contracted at the mouth, the limb linear to ovate-oblong 

 deciduous. Spadix exserted, the male and female flowers distant, with 

 neuter flowers above the females and sometimes below the males, the 

 appendage smooth, elongated. Anthers 1 to 3, sessile or nearly so. Ovary 

 1-celled, 1- or 2-ovuled. Fruit an ovoid, 1- or 2-seeded berry. (From 

 a name of Greek mythology, "the God of storms.") 



Species about 15 in the tropics of the Old World, 2 or 3 in the 

 Philippines. 



1. T. cuspldatum Blume. 



Tubers subglobose, 1 to 1.5 cm in diameter. Leaves several, their 

 petioles 7 to 14 cm long, the blades thin, cordately or hastately ovate to 

 oblong, 6 to 14 cm long, apex acuminate. Spathe inflated, green, 1.5 cm 

 in diameter below, then narrowed and contracted, the limb purplish, 1.6 

 to 2 cm wide, reflexed, gradually 'narrowed into a long, slender, erect, 

 ultimately pendulous tail, 8 to 16 cm long, deciduous. Appendage to the 

 spadix erect, white, gradually narrowed upward, about 4 mm thick below, 

 as long as the spathe-limb. 



In thickets, Masambong, Malate, Pasay, etc., fl. Aug-.-Bec; apparently 

 not common in the Philippines. Bengal to the Malay Peninsula and 

 Archipelago. 



