Zantedeschia aethiopica Arum Lily PFAF Plant Database

2 New Books ** Edible Plants: An inspirational guide to choosing and growing unusual edible plants and Woodland Gardening (Forest) [Paperback]. more >>


Search Page Content

Zantedeschia aethiopica - (L.)Spreng.

Common Name

Arum Lily

Family

Araceae

Synonyms

Known Hazards

Many plants in this family are poisonous raw, due to the presence of calcium oxylate crystals. If eaten raw, this toxin gives you a sensation as if hundreds of tiny needles are sticking into the mouth, tongue etc. However, it is easily destroyed by thoroughly cooking or drying the plant. Although no specific mention has been seen for this plant it is wise to assume that it is poisonous in its raw state.

Habitats

Wet marshy places[73, 90].

Range

S. Africa. Locally naturalized in S. and W. Europe[50].

Edibility Rating

Medicinal Rating

Care

Summary

Physical Characteristics

Zantedeschia aethiopica is an evergreen Perennial growing to 1 m (3ft 3in) by 0.6 m (2ft) at a medium rate.
It is hardy to zone 8 and is frost tender. It is in leaf 12-Jan It is in flower from Jul to November. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and are pollinated by Insects.

Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers wet soil and can grow in water.


commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Hedwig_Storch

Habitats
Pond; Bog Garden;

Edible Uses
Edible Parts: Leaves. Edible Uses: Young leaves - cooked[105, 177]. Some caution is advised, see the notes above on toxicity.

Medicinal Uses
Plants For A Future can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally. None known

Other Uses
None known

Cultivation details

Requires a very rich soil in full sun or shade[1, 200]. Best when growing in full sun[90]. Succeeds in wet soils or water up to 30cm deep[1, 200]. This species is only hardy to between -5 and -10°c[200], although some selected forms, such as 'Crowborough' and 'Green Spathe', are hardy in most parts of Britain if they are planted deeply in shallow water to about 30 cm deep[1, 90, 200]. It is best to cover plants with bracken in the winter in order to protect against exceptional frosts[90]. Members of this genus seem to be immune to the predations of rabbits[233]

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a greenhouse[K]. Pre-soak stored seed for 24 hours in warm water and sow in moist soil in spring in a greenhouse[200]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Division, preferably in the spring[200]. Larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. We have found that it is best to pot up smaller divisions and grow them on in light shade in a greenhouse or cold frame until they are growing away well. Plant them out in the summer or the following spring.

Plant Suppliers: Click here for a List

You can download this page as a PDF

Expert comment

Author
(L.)Spreng.

Botanical References
73200

Links / References

[K] Ken Fern Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1]F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956

Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[73]Adamson. and Salter. Flora of the Cape Peninsula.

A good flora but rather short on details of habitat. Not for the casual reader.

[90]Phillips. R. and Rix. M. Bulbs

Superbly illustrated, it gives brief details on cultivation and native habitat.

[105]Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.

The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[177]Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption.

An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[200]Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992.

Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[233]Thomas. G. S. Perennial Garden Plants

A concise guide to a wide range of perennials. Lots of cultivation guides, very little on plant uses.

Readers comment

Elizabeth H.
cristi pike	Mon May 30 14:35:01 2005

i have a question, what happens if a person gets the secrecion on thier body? i was pulling the dead leaves off of mine and about an hour later i started to get bilsters on my hands. the next day the blisters had turned red with blood and were very painful. the pain lasted about three days and the blisters finnaly went away after a week. could this have been caused from the plant?

Elizabeth H.
Aaron Edgeley	Fri Jul 16 09:32:08 2004

i have it on good authority that the leaves, crushed and applied to the brow were used as a headache cure in south africa. i have not tried this personally however, and would advise caution

Elizabeth H.
Nadine Lobsher	Sat Oct 7 2006

Nadine Lobsher i have read in a books that the leaves are apllied to sores in africa.i have not tried it myself but my grandparents use the leaves for sores all the time!

Elizabeth H.
Nadine Lobsher	Sat Oct 7 2006

Nadine Lobsher i have red in a book that the leaves are apllied to sores in africa.i have not tried it myself but my grandparents use the leaves for sores all the time!

Elizabeth H.
lauren meneses	Mon Feb 18 2008

what is the arum's pollinator?

QR Code

What's this?

This is a QR code (short for Quick Response) which gives fast-track access to our website pages. QR Codes are barcodes that can be read by mobile phone (smartphone) cameras. This QR Code is unique to this page. All plant pages have their own unique code. For more information about QR Codes click here.

1. Copy and print the QR code to a plant label, poster, book, website, magazines, newspaper etc and even t-shirts.

2. Smartphone users scan the QR Code which automatically takes them to the webpage the QR Code came from.

3. Smartphone users quickly have information on a plant directly for the pfaf.org website on their phone.

Rate This Plant
Please rate this plants for how successful you have found it to be. You will need to be logged in to do this. Our intention is not to create a list of 'popular' plants but rather to highlight plants that may be rare and unusual and that have been found to be useful by website users. This hopefully will encourage more people to use plants that they possibly would not have considered before.

Add a comment/link

If you have important information about this plant that may help other users please add a comment or link below. Only comments or links that are felt to be directly relevant to a plant will be included. If you think a comment/link or information contained on this page is inaccurate or misleading we would welcome your feedback at admin@pfaf.org. If you have questions about a plant please use the Forum on this website as we do not have the resources to answer questions ourselves.

* Please note: the comments by website users are not necessarily those held by PFAF and may give misleading or inaccurate information.

Subject : Zantedeschia aethiopica

Links	To add a link to another website with useful info add the details here
Name of Site
URL of Site
Details