Homalomena is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. Homalomena are native to tropical Asia and China.Govaerts, R. & Frodin, D.G. (2002). World Checklist and Bibliography of Araceae (and Acoraceae): 1-560. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.Boyce, P.C. & Wong, S.Y. (2009). Studies on Homalomeneae (Araceae) of Borneo IV: Homalomena specimens in the herbarium Beccarianum-Malesia (FI-B) of the Museo di Storia Naturale - Sezione Botanica "F.Parlatore" dell'Università di Firenze. Webbia; Raccolta de Scritti Botanici 64: 169-173. Many Homalomena have a strong smell of anise. The name derives apparently from a mistranslated Malayan vernacular name, translated as , meaning flat, and mene = moon.
The plants of this genus are clump-forming evergreen perennials with mainly heart-shaped or arrowheaded shaped leaves. The flowers are tiny and without petals, enclosed in a usually greenish spathe hidden by the leaves.
Some authors have proposed splitting the genus and moving all the neotropical species of Homalomena to Adelonema.
Selected species
Homalomena expedita A.Hay & Hersc. – Borneo (Sarawak) Homalomena philippinensis Engl. – Philippines, Taiwan (Lanyu Island)
See also Schismatoglottis
References
External links Asiatica plant catalogue