One of the easiest, lowest maintenance house- plants of all, arrowhead plant (Syngonium podophyllum) has been cultivated indoors for a long time. It is especially nice in hanging baskets, which show its gracefully draping vining stems to best advantage. Alternatively, it can be attached to upright moss-covered stakes and allowed to clamber all the way to the ceil- ing and back. Modern cultivars, however, have been selected for shorter, less rambunctious habits and are much more compact and less vine-like. Its leaves, which change shape and size as plants mature, are the primary reason for growing arrowhead plant. The plants most often seen for sale are youngsters with juvenile foliage to 6 inches long and 3 inches wide; these baby leaves are shaped like arrowheads and are simple, not compound. Mature leaves are palmately compound with five to 11 leaflets and grow to 15 inches long and 12 inches wide. The three largest leaflets point down and the two smaller leaflets point up. Most of the commonly available cultivars have foliage with varying degrees of white variegation. Some offer bright green leaves with crisp white veins; oth- ers have white patches covering most of the leaf. Newer cultivars add pinkish or bronze tones to the color range. It is very rare for arrow-head plant to flower indoors. The inflorescence is a scoop-shaped, greenish white spathe sur- rounding a finger-like spadix covered with very tiny flowers that look like little greenish white bumps. Female flowers near the base of the spa- dix form brown-black berries after fertilization.

This plant is toxic to people and pets and should be kept in an out-of-the-way place. Its tissues contain calcium oxalate crystals, and if leaves are chewed the crystals penetrate the soft tissues of lips, tongue, and throat, causing painful swelling, drooling, and vomiting. If you suspect a person or pet has ingested parts of this plant, or if a person or pet exhibits serious symptoms such as difficulty breathing, call your local emergency hotline, poison control center, or vet.

HUMIDITY.

This plant needs regular misting to raise humidity. Use a spray bottle of water on a mist setting, or use a handheld mister. Put the pot in a saucer or tray of water, making sure the bottom of the pot never sits directly in the water by raising the pot up on pot feet or pebbles.

POTTING MEDIUM.

Use any good organic, well-drained, general-purpose potting soil that incorporates organic fertilizer, mycorrhizal fungi, and other beneficial microbes.

FERTILIZER.

Use any organic fertilizer, in either a powder or liquid formulation, where the first number (nitrogen) is higher than the other two. Apply at half-strength every two weeks through the growing season, once a month in winter.

POTTING.

When your plant needs up-potting, shift it to a container with a diameter 4 inches larger than the current pot. Re-pot in spring, but only every two years or so.

PROPAGATION.

Arrowhead plant is easy to propagate from stem tip cuttings or by layering.

COMMON PROBLEMS

Watch for leaves changing color (page 249) and scale insects (page 262).