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Caladium bicolor (Aiton) Vent.

Heart of jesus (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Alismatales > Araceae > Caladium

Characteristics

Plant arising from a small, depressed-globose rhizome; petioles very slender, 3 or more times as long as the blade, short-vaginate; blades broadly sagittate-ovate, mostly 10-20 cm. long, acute or abruptly acute, peltate far above the base, the basal lobes obtuse, directed downward or slightly outward, separated by a broad, open, triangular sinus, the blades thin, glaucescent beneath, spotted above with white, pink, red, pale yellow or other colors; tube of the spathe ovoid, green out-side, greenish white within, the blade about twice as long as the tube, cuspidate, white; pistillate portion of the spadix short-cylindroid, yellowish or pale orange, the fertile staminate portion twice as long as the pistillate, cylindric-fusiform.
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Acaulescent herb with subglobose tuber.. Leaf-blade peltate, cordate-sagittate, 13–37 cm. long, 9–26 cm. broad, above green, usually with white and red blotches, or with pink centre, many cultivated forms have various other variegations.. Peduncle 17–27 cm. long, erect.. Spathe 7–13 cm. long, with subglobose, inflated green tube, blade white, boat-shaped, longer than tube, deciduous.. Spadix shorter than spathe, lacking sterile appendix.. Flowers unisexual, lacking tepals.
A perennial plant. It grows to 50 cm tall and spreads to 1 m wide. The roots form round tubers. The stem is slender and erect and produces a flower at the top. The leaves arise directly from the base and are large and arrow shaped. The leaf stalk joins to the middle of the leaf underneath. (Not the edge). Leaves are 15-30 cm long. They have patterns of pink and green. The flower is creamy white and lily like.
Leaves attractively mottled or coloured, appearing at the same time as the flowers
Spathe greenish white.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention
Sexuality -
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) 1.0
Mature height (meter) 0.5
Root system rhizome
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color -
Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

A tropical plant. It does best in rich moist soils. It can grow in light shade. It is drought and frost tender. Plants will not grow with temperatures less than 13°C and should have temperatures of 21°C or above. It suits hardiness zones 10-12.
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Thoroughly naturalized in several West African countries, occurring on roadsides and shady waste places in the forest region
Shady positions in moist, fertile soils.
Light 4-6
Soil humidity 4-7
Soil texture 3-4
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 10-11

Usage

CAUTION: The plant like many taro family plants contains very small needle like crystals of calcium oxalate which can irritate the skin or mouth. The leaves are edible with suitable processing. They are boiled and eaten in the West Indies. The tubers of some varieties are used as food. (var. poecile and var. velloziana)
Uses environmental use food gene source medicinal poison
Edible fruits leaves roots seeds tubers
Therapeutic use Facial paralysis (bulb), Facial paralysis (rhizome), Angina (unspecified), Antiseptic (unspecified), Ascaricide (unspecified), Larvicide (unspecified), Purgative (unspecified), Sore (unspecified), Toothache (unspecified), Emetic (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants are grown by dividing the tubers. They are planted 5 cm deep. Plants are spaced 30 cm apart.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) 1
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Leaf

Caladium bicolor leaf picture by Lorena Lorena Toledo (cc-by-sa)
Caladium bicolor leaf picture by Lorena Lorena Toledo (cc-by-sa)
Caladium bicolor leaf picture by Rodrigues Eduardo (cc-by-sa)

Flower

Caladium bicolor flower picture by Moronta Rodríguez (cc-by-sa)
Caladium bicolor flower picture by R. Tournebize (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Caladium bicolor world distribution map, present in Andorra, Benin, Bangladesh, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Central African Republic, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Ecuador, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Haiti, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Korea (Democratic People's Republic of), Suriname, Seychelles, Togo, United States of America, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), and Wallis and Futuna

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30010088-2
WFO ID wfo-0000739079
COL ID PC2B
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID 447721
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Caladium bicolor f. perrieri Caladium bicolor f. regale Caladium bicolor f. verschaffeltii Caladium hortulanum Arum bicolor Arum pulchrum Arum vermitoxicum Caladium amoenum Caladium brongniartii Caladium curwadlii Caladium duchartrei Caladium eckhartii Caladium enkeanum Caladium haageanum Caladium hendersonii Caladium houlletii Caladium kochii Caladium laucheanum Caladium leopoldii Caladium lilliputiense Caladium marginatum Caladium pallidinervium Caladium pallidum Caladium rougieri Caladium rubellum Caladium rubricaule Caladium sieboldii Caladium splendens Caladium spruceanum Caladium stangeanum Caladium thelemanni Caladium wightii Caladium albopunctatissimum Caladium appunianum Caladium argyrospilum Caladium concolor Caladium connaertii Caladium discolor Caladium dussii Caladium firmulum Caladium gaerdtii Caladium griseo-argenteum Caladium houbyanum Caladium ketteleri Caladium kramerianum Caladium macrophyllum Caladium martersteigianum Caladium mooreanum Caladium pellucidum Caladium punctatissimum Caladium purdieanum Caladium thripedestum Caladium verschaffeltii Caladium wagneri Cyrtospadix bicolor Caladium jacquinii Alocasia rex Caladium bicolor f. argyrospilum Caladium bicolor f. barraquinii Caladium bicolor f. brongniartii Caladium bicolor f. chantinii Caladium bicolor f. devosianum Caladium bicolor f. haematostigma Caladium bicolor f. macrophyllum Caladium bicolor f. robustum Caladium bicolor f. splendens Caladium bicolor f. vellozoanum Alocasia roezlii Caladium baraquini Caladium haematostigma Caladium barraquinii Caladium x hortulanum Arum pellucidum Caladium bicolor f. rubicundum Arum vermitoxicum Caladium surinamense Caladium chantinii Caladium bicolor f. surinamense Caladium barraquinii Caladium lindenii Caladium marmoratum Caladium medioradiatum Caladium mirabile Caladium perrieri Caladium pictum Caladium pusillum Caladium sagittifolium Caladium sororium Caladium vellozoanum Caladium bicolor var. albomaculatum Caladium bicolor var. argyrospilum Caladium bicolor var. barraquinii Caladium bicolor var. bohemicum Caladium bicolor var. brongniartii Caladium bicolor var. chantinii Caladium bicolor var. curwadlii Caladium bicolor var. devosianum Caladium bicolor var. duchartrei Caladium bicolor var. enkeanum Caladium bicolor var. hendersonii Caladium bicolor var. houbyanym Caladium bicolor var. kochii Caladium bicolor var. kramerianum Caladium bicolor var. laucheanum Caladium bicolor var. leopoldii Caladium bicolor var. lindenii Caladium bicolor var. macrophyllum Caladium bicolor var. marginatum Caladium bicolor var. mirabile Caladium bicolor var. neumannii Caladium bicolor var. pellucidum Caladium bicolor var. perrieri Caladium bicolor var. pictum Caladium bicolor var. regale Caladium bicolor var. roseo-maculatum Caladium bicolor var. rubellum Caladium bicolor var. rubicundum Caladium bicolor var. rubrivenium Caladium bicolor var. sieboldii Caladium bicolor var. splendens Caladium bicolor var. stangeanum Caladium bicolor var. surinamense Caladium bicolor var. transparens Caladium bicolor var. vellozoanum Caladium bicolor var. verschaffeltii Caladium bicolor var. wightii Caladium bicolor var. haematostigma Caladium bicolor var. vermitoxicum Caladium bicolor var. houlletii Caladium bicolor f. mirabile Caladium bicolor f. neumannii Caladium bicolor f. wightii Xanthosoma sylvestre Caladium bicolor var. eckhartii Caladium bicolor var. ketteleri Caladium devosianum Caladium neumannii Caladium regale Caladium reichenbachianum Caladium rubrovenium Caladium bicolor subvar. rosaceum Caladium bicolor var. pellucidum Caladium ottonis Caladium bicolor
WorldFloraDB 2024