Today’s Calla Lilies come in a rainbow of colors from white to yellow, pink to purple, and orange to almost red. You may have had trouble finding information about calla lilies in gardening books and catalog indexes, since such lists are often arranged using the Latin names of plants instead of their common names. Calla’s are monocots and belong to the family Araceae, and the genus Zantedeschia, having been named after the 19th century botanist Francesco Zantedeschia. So if you have been looking for these marvelous South African Natives under ‘C’, you have been looking for them in the wrong end of the alphabet! Callas are herbaceous perennials below zone 7, and can be grown in many colder climes successfully if lifted in the fall and stored in a cool dry cellar. Most have pointed or heart shaped leaves from 1.5 to 3 feet tall, many have white speckles on their dark green leaves.In it’s native Southern Africa it can be found growing along roadsides in drainage ditches and wetlands.