Monteverde aroids
The last family I'll bore you
with this week is the Arum Family (Araceae). In the southern
Appalachians, the only really common aroid is Jack-in-the-Pulpit, but in Costa Rica the
family was so profuse that even my non-botanically-inclined sister
picked up the term "aroid".
Looking at several
members of a plant family at once feels a bit like hearing a symphony,
full of themes and variations. Take a look at these images of
Monteverde aroids. Notice the similarities in the fruiting spadices despite the differences in size?
While in Costa Rica, I
repeatedly wrote in my sketchbook, "This plant looks like a house
plant", and among the aroids my guess was correct. Anthurium, Philodendron, and Dieffenbachia are all common house plants,
not only because of their lovely foliage, but also because they can
grow well in the shady interior of houses. I'll bet you didn't realize you were mimicking the dim interior of a rainforest in your home.
4-23-01
Last
night we actually got up the momentum to go to the Bonfire/Bread twist
roast/Sing/Slideshow. And I had a lovely time!
A
bread twist roast consists of biscuit dough (ours had too much butter
and I'm told it's best to knead it a bit) put thinly over the end of a
stick to make a cup and roasted over the fire. Then the bread is
taken off the stick and filled with desserts or with beans, etc.
Luscious!
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Are you asking where the roots literally are, or where the family evolved? Since aroids are found in both the Americas and in Asia, I'm assuming it's a very old family that dates back to Pangaea.
As for their literal roots --- the vines tend to start rooted in the ground, but often sever their stem at some point and reroot in pockets of dirt in the canopy.