The Course of Change and Development of the Classification Systems of the Araceae

The taxonomic history of the Araceae of the world is briefed in this paper. An attention is made to survey the evolution of the systems after 1832 when Schott published the first system of classification of the Araceae. The major taxonomic systems of the Araceae are those of Schott (1860), Hooker (1883), Engler (1920), Hutchinson (1959), Grayum (1990), the Engler's system revised by Bogner and Nicolson (1991), and the system of Mayo et al (1997). The principles on which each system was based are briefly discussed. The cource of change at sub-familiar and tribal levals and development of the major systems are preliminarily surveyed. Comments on the main contributions of these systems are also presented. In additon, some notes are made on the change of the systematic arrangement of the Araceae at generic and specific levals since 1979 when the aroid volume of the Florae Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae was published. Finally, for a better understanding of the phylogeny in the near future, some unresolved problems of the above-mentioned systems are explored and some remarks on the future study of this important family are presented.