Xanthosoma lindenii 'Lime Zinger'

Xanthosoma lindenii 'Lime Zinger' is a chartreuse colour-form selection of the Colombian species more typically seen with bold white venation over a dark green, arrow-shaped blade. This selection instead carries an even, glowing lime-green leaf colour that intensifies in bright light, giving it a different presence from the wild-type plant while keeping the same elegant sagittate leaf shape and long upright petioles. Like other Xanthosoma, it grows from an underground tuber in a loose basal clump, dying back readily if conditions turn too cold or dry before recovering from the tuber. The species is also sometimes sold, taxonomically confusingly, under the trade name 'Caladium lindenii'. The true Xanthosoma lindenii and the plant commonly labelled Caladium lindenii in the trade are one and the same.

Native range

Colombia; 'Lime Zinger' is a chartreuse colour-form selection maintained in cultivation

Classification

Genus

Xanthosoma

Family

Araceae

Type

Cultivar

Growth habit

Clumping rosette from a tuber

Morphology

Leaf shape

SagittateArrowhead-shaped leaves, with pointed lobes at the base pointing downwards. (arrow-shaped)

Leaf length

20-35 cm

Leaf width

12-22 cm

Petiole colour

Pale green

Venation

Fine, same lime tone as the blade, not contrasting

Texture

Matte, slightly velvety

Variegation

N/A: a solid chartreuse colour-form rather than variegated

Growth habit

Clumping rosette from an underground tuber