Description
Spathantheum fallax is an obscure aroid from South America. An easy species, this is a useful plant for the garden where the extraordinary leaf creates a wonderfully lush appearance. Young tubers offered this year which will need growing on.
This clone was originally collected in Bolivia back in 2002 at 3000m altitude.
When mature, the inflorescence is produced before the single large leaf. Leaves are spectacular on mature plants.
Spathantheum enjoy relatively cool conditions and do best grown outdoors for the summer. We had always thought this was tender, but we’ve recently heard reports that it is hardy in the South of the UK. We are trialing a few plants outside this year… A safer option is to dig the tuber up and store frost free for the winter months.
A few notes on names!…
Quite a few years ago we offered this plant for sale as ‘Spathantheum fallax’. Since then, we were informed that the correct name was ‘Spathantheum orbignyanum’. However, we have recently had reliable information that ‘Spathantheum fallax’ is in fact the correct name after all, and so it has been listed back under this original name again from 2020. From our own investigations into the naming and botanical description of this plant, ‘Spathanethum fallax’ does look to be a good fit. Botany – it’s all good fun isn’t it.