Spathiphyllum Schott

Overview

Spathiphyllum belongs to the arum family, Araceae. Kew gives an unusual native range: Mexico to tropical America, plus an outlying group in Malesia and the western Pacific. The RHS notes that the peace lilies grown indoors come from tropical forests in Central America and Colombia and, despite the name, belong to the arum family rather than the lilies. WCVP records the common S. wallisii as native to Colombia and Venezuela.

Classification and characters

Schott published the genus in 1832. CATE Araceae describes evergreen herbs with a short, erect to creeping stem, usually appearing stemless and sometimes stoloniferous; the spathe is membranous to slightly leathery and fully expanded, usually white, rarely green, turning green in fruit; and the spadix is cylindrical, erect, shorter than the spathe and usually stalked. The plate above is S. patinii from L’Illustration horticole (1880).

Distribution

WCVP records the genus as native to 31 TDWG botanical regions and introduced in 7 more.

BelizeBismarck ArchipelagoBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralCaroline Is.Central American Pacific Is.ColombiaCosta RicaEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHondurasMalukuMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestNew GuineaNicaraguaPanamáPeruPhilippinesSolomon Is.SulawesiSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela

Introduced

BangladeshComorosCook Is.CubaDominican RepublicPuerto RicoVenezuelan Antilles

Accepted species

WCVP accepts 76 species; names with × are natural hybrids. The count changes with revisions; checked 2026-10-24.

Historic plates

Plates in date order; the printed names are kept as they appear, current names are on the species pages and the topic page.

• 

  Spathiphyllum floribundum

  L'Illustration horticole · 159 · 1874
  L. Stroobant
  name from Commons, unverified
• 

  Spathiphyllum cochlearispathum

  L'Illustration horticole · 189 · 1874
  L. Stroobant
  name from Commons, unverified
• 

  Spathiphyllum Patini, N. E. Brown

  L'Illustration horticole · Pl. CCCXCVII · 1880
  

Growing indoors and safety

The RHS advises bright, indirect light, such as near a window away from strong summer sun; deep shade slows growth and makes flowering unlikely. Ordinary room temperatures of 12–24 °C suit them, away from radiators and cold draughts. Underwatering makes them droop alarmingly, but they usually recover quickly once watered; fluoride in tap water can damage the foliage, so rainwater or filtered water is better; they prefer moderate humidity. Flowers appear mainly in spring and summer, last for months and fade to green; too little light is the commonest reason for no flowers.

The RHS warns that peace lilies are poisonous: wear gloves and keep them out of reach of children and pets. The ASPCA lists Spathiphyllum as toxic to dogs and cats: its insoluble calcium oxalates cause intense burning and irritation of the mouth, tongue and lips, excessive drooling, vomiting and difficulty swallowing.

Further reading

• Reference library

References

1. WCVP · World Checklist of Vascular Plants (via ChecklistBank dataset 2232) · accessed 2026-10-24
2. Kew (POWO data on the ColPlanta site) · Spathiphyllum, with genus description from CATE Araceae
3. RHS · How to grow peace lilies
4. ASPCA Animal Poison Control · Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum)