Did you know?

The ZZ plant, Zamioculcas zamiifolia, is an aroid. (other aroids include Philodendrons, Anthuriums, Aglaonema, Monsteras, etc) It is the only member of a monotypic genus, and has no close relatives. It was named, oddly enough, after the plants in the genus Zamia (cycads like the Card board Palm). But it isn't a palm. Nor is it, as many people believe, a succulent. It has no actual close plant relatives.

It does have one thing in common with other aroids like the Amorphophallus, the Typhonium, and the Gonatopus (Giraffe's Knees): like these, each stalk of the ZZ plant is a single leaf. The entire structure is considered one compound, pinnate leaf.

Unlike any other aroid, it has the capability to be propagated by leaf cuttings.

It was first placed in the genus CALADIUM in 1829 when it was doscovered. However this error was soon realized and it was given its own genus.

ZZ plant is an Old World plant native to the dry arid Savannahs of West Africa. Totally unlike most aroids which come from areas of moist tropical forest, montane forest, or cloud forest where it is wet and humid. They grow from a rhizome that looks very much like a potato, which stores a lot of water, making it unnecessary to water the plant but maybe once a month.

They grow naturally in extremely poor, dry rocky soil. So when growing as a houseplant, it is necessary to provide media that has excellent drainage, and it is almost unnecessary to fertilize this plant.

Things that differentiate it from succulents are that succulents store water in the leaves, stems and deep root systems. ZZ plants store water in the underground rhizome, and have very shallow root systems.

Some nicknames for the ZZ plant are: Eternity Plant, Aroid Palm.

Great info Gina! for sharing! I love that variegated ZZ

Other Aroids may be propagated from leaf cuttings - including most Amorphophallus, and some of their relatives.
Zz are native to East Africa.

Here's a link to some older, extensive, detailed information I found when I first came across ZZ's.
https://www.exoticrainforest.c...

Hortica said: Other Aroids may be propagated from leaf cuttings - including most Amorphophallus, and some of their relatives.
Zz are native to East Africa.

Actually they are found in both East and West Africa

MsDoe said: Here's a link to some older, extensive, detailed information I found when I first came across ZZ's.
https://www.exoticrainforest.c...

This is Steve Lucas' old site. He passed on years ago. I knew him pretty well.

Hortica said: Other Aroids may be propagated from leaf cuttings - including most Amorphophallus, and some of their relatives.
Zz are native to East Africa.

Didn't know that about amorphophallys. Good to know

Exotic rainforest is one of those great old educational/reference sites that used to come up in a search, but now all the results are commercial.

Tiffany Steve Lucas who created the site when he built his place to house his extensive collection died some years ago. He was a bona fide collector and layman researcher and networked with Dr Thomas Croat, Julius Boos, Mardy Darian and a lot of other giants in the aroid world. He was very active in the International Aroid Society. When he died his wife did not want to try to keep either the collection or the website going. She was going to just take the website down. She did sell his entire collection to one person who bought it lock stock and barrel and transported it to I think a conservatory in Indiana. The IAS didn't want to lose all of Steve's work so they stepped in and took over the website. I guess the ads are all because they have to pay for it somehow

Gina,
I thought someone here might know more about Exotic Rainforest. It has been very helpful to me, and I really appreciate the detailed information.
I'm sorry for the loss of Mr. Lucas, but very glad his website has been preserved.
If you know the family, please pass on my thanks, and very belated condolences.

Gina, thank you for this really informative post!

Over time, this thread may go dormant but if you add the information to the comment section on the database page it will remain available for all time and it will make it easy to direct someone to. I hope you will consider copying and pasting the info to the database!

At the bottom of the database page for ZZ Plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia), in the area that says: Adding Actions:

Select: Post a comment and type, or copy/paste the info into the box. Scroll down and Select: Preview and then Select: Finished

Gina, thank you for the additional info. I was aware that the person who created that site had passed, but not the other info. What I said about searches, I meant that sites like that do not appear in search results, only sites that exist to sell something. The purely informational sites have been lost unless you already know what you are looking for.

Steve Lucas passed in 2011 and his knowledge surely is missed; he was always so informative and helpful regarding Aroids. I still visit his Exotic Rainforest website on occasion and I do hope that the lady (Connie Scott) who purchased his plant collection was able to keep it up. It sounded like she had the perfect environment with added features of a waterfall and Koi pond. She said she would come back and post photos here but I guess she never did. Here is her post: https://garden.org/thread/view...

Yes I remember her now. I remember thinking DAMN she must be super wealthy!

When I look for Constance Scott of Morristown Indiana, I'm sorry to say that I find an obituary from 2019.
https://www.erleweinmortuary.c...

It sounds like she was a very creative and artistic person.

More fun facts:
Zz is the only aroid that exhibits CAM (crassulacean acid metabolism), meaning CO2 uptake in the dark and daytime fluctuations of titratable acidity.
ref.: https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary....
Zz are good at removing some VOC indoor air pollutants such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene.
ref.:
https://link.springer.com/arti...
Variegation can be induced with colchicine.
ref.:
http://repository.ou.ac.lk/bit...
The Zz plant has been utilized externally as traditional medicine by some local people from other parts of the globe. Malawian people use the leaves of Z. zamiifolia as an earache remedy on children, meanwhile the roots are used for treating gastric problems by Sukuma people in Tanzania.
ref.: https://www.researchgate.net/p...
Toxicity has been demonstrated, but the children recovered with no treatment.
ref.: https://www.researchgate.net/p...
Another study indicated a low probability of toxicity.
ref.: https://www.sciencedirect.com/...
Zz is only found in East and Southeast African countries of Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South-Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
ref.:
https://link.springer.com/refe...
https://powo.science.kew.org/t...