Species · genus Caladium · Araceae

Heart Of Jesus

Caladium bicolor (Aiton) Vent.

Also known as: Angel Wings · Artist's Pallet · Caladium · Elephant's-ear · Fancy-leaf Caladium

Growth habit

tuberous geophyte

Native range

Argentina Northwest, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela

Reference · C. bicolor

Cultivars of C. bicolor

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under C. bicolor yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

Caladium bicolor is a tuberous geophyte from the warm, humid understory of tropical Central and South America, where it grows in dappled light beneath taller plants. Give it bright indirect light and warmth, and water when the top inch of mix is dry, easing off as the leaves naturally die back to the tuber in dormancy. The stored tuber rots if left sitting wet, so let the surface approach dryness between waterings.

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 5-10d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Bright, indirect

Water

≈ every 10 days

Humidity

High

Temperature

18–29 °C

Soil mix

Rich, moisture-retentive mix with peat/coir and perlite

Propagation

Divide dormant tubers

Fertilizing

Balanced feed every 2 weeks while in leaf

Growth rate

Fast

Flowering

Grown for vivid leaves; tubers go dormant and rest in winter

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Toxic to cats & dogs & humans

Araceae contain insoluble calcium oxalate crystals, which cause oral and digestive irritation if chewed or ingested. This is where toxicity lives: every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

No reference gallery yet

A few clear photos — habit, a mature leaf, a flower if it blooms — would give this page its eyes.

Add images

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 5-10d) · ai:claude-fable-5 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (family inference)

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Heart Of Jesus yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — is exactly what keeps this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.