Aglaonema costatum, the spotted evergreen, is a shade-loving tropical foliage plant from the forest understory, grown mainly for its white-spotted leaves. Keep it warm, humid and out of direct sun, and let the top of the soil dry slightly between waterings.
Family
Araceae (Arum family)
Grows as
Shrub
Light
Shade, Bright indirect
Water
Water when the top few centimetres of soil feel dry; avoid soggy soil.
Soil
Well-draining peat-based potting mix with some perlite or bark.
Temperature
18–30 °C; protect below 10 °C
How easy
Easy
Safety
Toxic: Leaves and stems contain calcium oxalate crystals, which cause mouth and throat irritation, swelling and drooling if chewed.
Native range
Bangladesh to Pen. Malaysia (Pulau Langkawi)
Climate
wet tropical
About
Aglaonema costatum, called the spotted evergreen, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Aglaonema, native to Bangladesh, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. In these areas, the plant is typically found growing in the understory of tropical rain forests. Its putative form, Aglaonema costatum f. immaculatum, called the unspotted Chinese evergreen, has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
A. costatum typically reaches about 60 cm tall and 30-45 cm wide. Its leaves are typically about 20 centimeters long, ovately shaped, with entire margins. They are green, with a white stripe along the midrib and a number of irregularly shaped white spots. In the summer, it produces white spathe-and-spadix flowers, about 2–3.5 centimeters long.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Aglaonema costatum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.