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Zantedeschia aethiopica

Common name:	Arum Lily	Family:	Araceae
Author:	(L.)Spreng.	Botanical references:	73, 200
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.
Range:	S. Africa. Locally naturalized in S. and W. Europe[50].
Habitat:	Wet marshy places[73, 90].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Calla aethiopica[B,G,P] Z. aethiopica var. minor[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Arum Lily [H], Calla Lily [P], Calla-lily [B], Common Calla Lily [H],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	aethiopica = African (esp So. African), ebony black;
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Arales. Arum family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Africa; Mexico
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: Western Australia.

Physical Characteristics

An evergreen perennial growing to 1m by 0.6m at a medium rate. It is hardy to zone 8 and is frost tender. It is in leaf all year, in flower from July to November. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant). We rate it 1/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

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

Habitats and Possible Locations

Pond, Bog Garden.

Edible Uses

Leaves.

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

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

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.

Cultivars

'Green Spathe': This form is hardy in most parts of Britain as long as it planted deeply in shallow water to about 30 cm deep[1, 90, 200].
'Crowborough': This form is hardy in most parts of Britain as long as it planted deeply in shallow water to about 30 cm deep[1, 90, 200].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
Images from the CalPhoto database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA's Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Araceae.

[CHINA] Draft Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

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 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[50] ? Flora Europaea Cambridge University Press 1964
An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader.

[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 Pan Books 1989 ISBN 0-330-30253-1
Superbly illustrated, it gives brief details on cultivation and native habitat.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
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. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
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. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[233] Thomas. G. S. Perennial Garden Plants J. M. Dent & Sons, London. 1990 ISBN 0 460 86048 8
A concise guide to a wide range of perennials. Lots of cultivation guides, very little on plant uses.

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Bibliography

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
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