Order Arales

Order Arales

Order Arales is divided into two or possibly three families. Some authorities put the genus Acorus (Sweet Flag) in a family of its own. The largest family is Araceae with about 1,100 species distributed throughout the world. Some species in this family have underground corms that are used as food, such as Taro (shown here), Tania and Elephant Yam. 500 species of one genus Anthurium are plants of the tropical rain forest. The other family in Order Arales is the Duckweed Family (Lemnaceae) with 29 species, which are tiny plants that grow on water. [CH] {EN}