ABSTRACT:

When Hooker (1883) was preparing the treatment of Araceae (Aroideae) for the monumental 'Genera Plantarum,' he basically followed the Schottian system, incorporating Engler's (1879) reduction in the number of genera. The first system was "popularized" by Hutchinson (1959) who, with a reversal of the sequence (bisexual genera first), published essentially an English translation of Hooker's latin. Engler (1905-1920), in his monumental 'Das Pflanzenreich', produced his final treatment of the family, including all then known species in nine volumes. This work remains the standard reference for the family as a whole.