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Taxonomy: Caladium is a genus of the New World, and it is placed in the tribe Caladieae. In the past, the tribe was assigned to the subfamily Colocasioideae [1). Bogner, J. S. & D. H. Nicolson (1991) 
2). Grayum, M. H. (1990)], but Mayo et al. have recently moved the genus into the subfamily Aroideae (1997).
Michael Madison (1981) described the genus as follows:
Terestial herbs, the stem a flattened or subglobose tuber, full subterranean. Leaves several, erect, often peltate, frequently variegated. Inflorescences solitary or a few in a monochasium, the peduncle elongated, often equalling the petiole. Spathe with a globose tube, usually green, and an ovate or lanceolate limb which is deciduous after anthesis. Female flowers less than 1.5 mm broad, prismatic, sometimes with a different texture in the upper part but lacking a well-defined style, 1-2 locular with 1-2 intrusive parietal or sub-basal placentae that may be fused in the center; ovules 2-20 in number. Male flowers mostly 3-4-androus, subprismatic. Pollen grains solitary.Caladium and Xanthosoma are sometimes difficult to distinguish. One character that appears to always separate the two genera is found in the pollen. The pollen of Xanthosoma is shed in tetrads, while the pollen of Caladium is shred as single cells.
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Distribution & Habitat: The species of Caladium are found in "tropical America, West Indes: n. Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Lesser Antilles, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Surinam, Venezuela" (Mayo et al.,1997, p. 207.). The habitat is described by T. Croat (1988) as "usually an understory tuberous herb in open areas in the forest, on creek banks, being especially common in the areas of semideciduous forest, where they lose their leaves during the dry season and go dormant; occasionally epilithic with tubers wedged into rocks along creeks or on steep slopes. Caladium is well adapted to distrubance, often proliferating in areas along roads in partial shade; ranging from near sea level to at least 1,000 m."
Species: The exact number of species in the genus is the source of some discussion. Madison (1981) reduced the number of species in the genus to seven. Six of these species, for the most part, are of little debate. The seventh species (C. bicolor), however, is considered by some to be too broadly defined.C. bicolor (sensu Madison) includes C. bicolor (sensu stricto), C. picturatum C. Koch, and C. marmoratum Mathieu. According to Mayo et al. (1997, p. 207.), the genus is comprised of ca. 12 species, and Croat (1994) believes it is "a modest-sized genus of 17 species...." A study of the species of this genus appears to be warranted.
The fancy-leaved caladium of cultivation is a complex of selections of species and of hybrids many of which are interspecific. Furthermore, trying to determine the pedigree of most cultivars is next to impossible. Only a very small number of cultivars have published pedigrees. It is, therefore, my belief that these cultivars should be referred to as C. x hortulanum Birdsey.
Cultivation: The Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, has written a bulletin on the cultivation of the fancy-leaved caladium as plants in pots and in the landscape. Click here to go download that publication. If the propagation of caladia from seeds is of interest, you may want to read the following article:
 | This web page was compiled by Dr. Paul M. Resslar, Professor of Biology, Virginia Wesleyan College, Norfolk, Virginia. It was last revised on 28 October 1999. Please send me comments or questions about this page. |