Arales

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An order of flowering plants, division Magnoliophyta (Angiospermae), in the subclass Arecidae of the class Liliopsida (monocotyledons). It consists of two families, the Araceae, with about 1800 species, and the Lemnaceae, with only about 30.

The Araceae are herbs (seldom woody climbers) with ordinary roots, stems, and leaves (often broad and net-veined) and with the vessels confined to the roots. They have numerous tiny flowers grouped together in a small to very large spadix. They are commonest in forested tropical and subtropical regions. Anthurium (elephant ear), Arisaema (jack-in-the-pul-pit), Dieffenbachia (dumb cane), Monstera, and Philodendron are some well-known members of the Araceae.

The Lemnaceae, or duckweeds, are small, free-floating, thalloid aquatics that are generally conceded to be derived from the Araceae. Their flowers, seldom seen, are much reduced and form a miniature spadix. Pistia (water lettuce), a free-floating aquatic (but not thalloid) aroid is seen as pointing the way toward Spirodela, the least reduced genus of the Lemnaceae. See also Arecidae; Liliopsida; Magnoliophyta; Plant kingdom.

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Arales is a botanical name for an order of flowering plants. The name was used in the Cronquist system for an order placed in subclass Arecidae, circumscribed as (1981):

• order Arales

  family Acoraceae

  family Araceae

  family Lemnaceae

The APG II system elevates the first of these three families to become an order Acorales of its own (consisting of one genus only!) and unites the last two of these families into the family Araceae and assigns this to the order Alismatales.

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