Monday, August 20, 2012

Arum Lily


In response to Diana's question - “What is your big-leaved plant?” Mine would have to be the White Arum Lily.



Zantedeschia aethiopica, commonly known as Arum Lily in South Africa, Calla Lily in many places and sometimes Easter Lily in England and Ireland. It is however not a lily but comes from the Aracaea family which also includes Anthuriums, Philodendrons and delicious monsters.

Common to most members of this family is a modified leaf known as a spathe. This is the part that most us would think of as the flower petal.

Beautiful white spathe

Unopened spathes are pale green

The actual flower is a cluster of minute flowers on a central column known as a spadix. On Zantedeschia aethiopica the top part bears male flowers and the bottom carries the female flowers. About ¾ of this spadix carries male flowers.

Yellow spadix on Zantedeschia aethiopica


The common Arum originates from South Africa and is found from the Western Cape all along the coast, even spreading as far as the Northern Province. This vast range covers a wide variety of climatic conditions, from salty coastal air to chilly high altitude mountains. It will grow and flower in winter and summer rainfall areas. If it remains moist all year it will remain green, yet if it naturally receives no water in the dry period it will die back. It's large underground rhizome allows it to spring back to life as soon as the rainy season begins. Being tolerant of so many growing conditions makes Zantadeschia a very obliging garden specimen. They tend to grow taller and carry larger leaves in shady conditions, in sun the leaves are smaller but they flower more prolifically.

Typical large leaf in shady conditions

I have them in a number of different areas in my garden and those that receive water from my rainwater tanks in summer remain evergreen and flower sporadically throughout the year. The others disappear and remain dormant in our hot, dry and summer but grow incredibly fast as soon as the winter rains begin.

It is also a great plant for wildlife, attracting numerous flying and crawling insects, including bees and my favourite crab spider. In the wild the rhizome is eaten by pigs and porcupines, luckily none of those in my garden, but the snails do have a feast. The berries which turn yellow when ripe are eaten by birds which aid seed dispersal.

Unripe fruit 

The leaf on the right almost totally demolished by snails.

Definitely worth planting if you live in it's natural range. Although popular in many parts of the world, plant with caution, in Western Australia it has become a weed.


17 comments:

  1. Ditto GG. And I love that they propagate themselves :)

    I have taken a couple of the seed heads from our Hout Bay house to scatter in our grey water bed on the farm... :)

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  2. I am sure they will do well - they are such easy plants to grow.

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  3. They look absolutely beautiful in their native place. People try to grow (and overwinter) them here with not much luck. They would make a great addition to a white garden.

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  4. I've never tried growing Arums here. I've often wondered if they would do well. They certainly are spectacular plants when in full bloom.

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    1. Hi Bernie

      Sure they would do really well during your wet season. But be careful as they can be invasive out of their natural area. Would hate to upset your new project.

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  5. we have a garden by us thathas just Arum lillies and ivy it looks lovely in bloom.

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  6. Its quite interesting to see how the Arums are flourishing in profusion along Baden Powell Drive near to the "cliffs". We wondered whether their natural "predator", the porcupine, has been decimated with the creep of urban sprawl and traffic. I didnt have my camera at hand which is a pity because they are spectacular in their numbers.

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    1. Good point you have made, I decided to Google "Porcupine populations Western Cape". I could could only find one relevant article which focused on the trade of quills. http://media.withtank.com/477275f26c/porcupine_quill_trade.pdf According to this no real study has been made of existing populations so judging the losses is difficult, but this just adds another dimension to your your already named problems of urban sprawl and traffic. Of course we could choose to be positive and assume the profusion is due to good policing of the laws restricting the picking of wild flowers, but this Africa so no doubt this is not the real reason.

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  7. I file this plant under "tried and killed multiple times" which is a rather larger group of plants than I like to admit. Strictly a houseplant here, of course, though I'm sure our neighborhood porcupine would dearly love for me to plant it as an annual outdoors.

    Christine in Alaska, garden currently under snow (sniff)

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  8. When we got back from a month away from Cape Town, there were lots of arums that had popped up all over the garden - testimony to the rain we have been experiencing!

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  9. I have only just found this post, trawling back thru my stats. Arum lily is always on my must have garden list.

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    1. My October post is now up, with your arum lily.
      http://elephantseyegarden.blogspot.com/2012/10/octobers-choice-in-dozen-for-diana.html

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    2. Thank you for the link - hopefully it will bring some new visitors my way.

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  10. Historical favourites for most gardens in SA I would guess, just something about them.

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  11. Very informative coverage of a beautiful plant. Without wanting to sound too negative, I'm afraid I associate this plant with funerals! When I was young it was always included in memorial wreaths. What you say about it becoming a weed in certain parts of Australia is interesting too. Some plants do that. Round here Buddleia grows everywhere, particularly along the railway lines. It looks nice in moderate quantities, but too much is definitely bad.

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  13. Are all the exotic varieties as easy to grow as the traditional White one we find here in the Western Cape, South Africa? I love Arum ... (especially now that there are so many colours available) growing up we always only had the White in our garden & you were lucky if you had a yellow plant.
    I would have them bloom ALL YEAR round if I had my way :) Cut flower & in the garden, they are beautiful.
    Any advise on which fertiliser to use & how often please?
    Thank you

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