We’ve added some new functionality to The Caladiums Database.

Commercial growers generally recognize two groups of Caladium:
Fancy-leaf: large heart shaped leaves with prominent lobes
Lance-leaf (or Strap-leaf): lance shaped leaves with small lobes. Breeders are developing more varieties which have no basal lobes or veins, the Strap-leaf, but at present there are few available.

These groups are further divided by primary leaf color:
White
Red
Pink
Novelty: Some growers list these as Multi-color, but green or orange,... leaf varieties can be found here.

We’ve also added a check box for Sun tolerant varieties. These are cultivars which can tolerate full sun in south central Florida!

Excellent and very helpful, Evan. Thank you.

I like the idea of simplifying things a bit, generally, the public could care less about if a caladium is a strap or fancy, they just want to see the colors. The "Multicolor" designation is from Classic Caladiums, they are regularly creating new caladium varieties that just don't fit the traditional classifications of either pink, red or white, hence "multicolor". Many of the new Classic varieties are sun tolerant as the company is focusing on this aspect of breeding.

Many that are shown for shade do very well here in full sun. All caladiums thrive in shade, per Bill...http://www.caladiumbulbs4less.com/

The Caladium breeders and growers have done southern gardeners a big favor by being fairly consistent about calling a Caladium sun tolerant. Since many Caladium can handle full sun in the north I'm wondering if we should add scroll-over text to Sun tolerant to make it clear that this refers to plants tested in south central Florida and many of the gulf states.

Dr. Zhanao Deng, of the University of Florida Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, lists a few vigorous varieties and therefor good choices for northern growers. Perhaps this would be a useful tool in searching our database?
Fancy-Leaf: Tapestry, Garden White, Red Flash, Carolyn Whorton, Royal Flush, Frieda Hemple, Pink Cloud, Aaron, Florida Moonlight, Strawberry Star, Candidum, White Christmas, Florida Blizzard, White Queen, Fannie Munson.
Strap (and Lance)-Leaf: Cherry Tart, Florida Sweetheart, Florida Red Ruffles, Florida White Ruffles, Gingerland, Pink Symphony, White Wing.

Good Morning, I have a question. I planted caladiums this year and they are beautiful. However, They have all produced a long stem with a strange ball on the tip. Is that seeds or a bloom? I know someone will know the answer. Cillay

You can find photos of caladium flowers on this link.
https://www.google.com/search?...

@cillay, It sounds like what you are describing is a seedpod.

Here is a photo showing the spathe/bloom and a photo showing seed pods forming