Tas. 4989. 
XANTHOSOMA saGITTIFOLIUM. 
Arrow-leaved Xanthosoma. 
Nat. Ord. Anorpr®.—Monecia PoLyaNDRIA. 
Gen. Char. Spatha basi convoluta, recta. Spadix interrupte androgynus ; geni- 
talibus rudimentariis infra stamina; appendice sterili nulla. Anthere biloculares, 
plurime, connexivis conoideis truncatis verticillatim adnate (sessiles, Schott), dis- 
crete ; loculis contiguis, apice rimulis transversis apertee. Ovaria plurima, con- 
ferta, stylis crassissimis placenteeformibus inter se cohzrentia, subquadrilocularia ; 
ovula in loculis plurima, medio axi affixa, horizontalia (peritropia, Schott). Stigma 
latum, depressum, lobatum, flavo-glutinosum. Bacca . . . .—Herbe Antillanee ; 
rhizomate caulescente, erecto. Folia simultanea, sagittata. Pedunculi subsolitarté 
(reves, Schott), vaginati. Spatha Jlavescens. Kth. 
XANTHOSOMA sagittifolium ; caudice brevi erecto, foliis late sagittato-ovatis acu- 
tis lobis baseos divaricatis obtusis, pedunculis petiolo brevioribus, spathee 
ample (spadice longiores) tubo convoluto inflato viridi, lamina ovata con- 
cava breviter tenuiterque acuminata alba. 
XANTHOSOMA sagittifolium. Schott, “ Melet. v. 1. p.19.” Hjusd. Syn. Aroid. 
p. 56. 
CaLADIUM sagittifolium. Vent. Cels. sub p. 30. Willd. Sp. Pl. v. 4. p. 489. 
Arum sagittifolium. Linn. Sp. Pl. p. 1369. Jacg. Hort. Vind. o. 2. p. 157. 
Anum xanthorrhizon. Jacy. Hort. Schinbr. v. 2. p.32.t.188. Plum. Plant. Am. 
v. 1. ¢. 35, et p. 67. p. 106. f.1. Sloane, Jam. Hist. v. 1. t. 106. f. 2. 
The tropical Aroideous plants have not received from the sci- 
entific botanist that degree of attention to which they are en- 
titled, especially when we consider the valuable property of so 
many species as esculents, if only the acrid and more or less 
poisonous properties are dispersed by the expression of the 
Juice, or by its dissipation through heat. Nor are they less in- 
teresting in cultivation, in consequence of the noble and very 
varied foliage of many of them, the peculiar fructification, and 
often the delicious fragrance of the spathaceous flowers. That 
they have been generally ill-described in books, and incorrectly 
named in our gardens and in our herbaria, is notorious to every 
working botanist. The present plant, the Arum sagittifolium ot 
Linnzus, well deserves a place in every stove when space and 
moisture can be given for the full development of the leaves and 
_ JUNE Ist, 1857. 
