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Thalia geniculata
Also called Arrowroot, Fire Flag, Fireflag, Alligator Flag
In Singapore: Swamp Lily, Water Canna, Alligator Flag (Grown in Singapore)
Thalia geniculata is a tall, rhizomatous marsh and pond-edge plant with bright fire-red flower stalks, native to tropical Africa and the Americas. It needs warm, wet or waterlogged conditions and full sun to grow well.
Thalia geniculata, the bent alligator-flag, arrowroot, or fire-flag, is a plant species widespread across tropical Africa and much of the Americas.
Thalia geniculata is native to a large region in Africa, from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the east, south to Zimbabwe and Angola. It is also considered native to Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, most of South America, as well as the southeastern United States (Puerto Rico, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and southern Georgia).
Rosmarinic acid can be found in plants in the family Marantaceae such as Thalia geniculata.
The larvae of Stolidoptera tachasara, Xylophanes hannemanni and Sphenarches anisodactylus have been recorded feeding on Thalia geniculata. The Thalia geniculata was also use to investigate the sugar-feeding behavior of Anopheles quadrimaculatus by measuring the impact and its survival(7)
[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 Thalia geniculata 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.
