230 FLORA. 



3- A 



(I. F. f. 



Arisaema Dracontium (L.) Schott. GREEN DRAGON. DRAGON-ROOT. 

 877.) Corms clustered. Leaves 2-11 dm. long, pedately divided into 5- 

 17 segments, much longer than the scape; segments obovate or oblong, 2-10 cm. 

 wide, abruptly acute at the apex, narrowed to a sessile or nearly sessile base, en- 

 tire or the lateral ones somewhat lobed; spathe greenish or whitish, acuminate, 2- 

 5 cm. long; spadix ovary turbinate, with 6-8 bottle-shaped ovules; berries reddish - 

 orange in large ovoid heads. Mostly in wet woods and alng streams, Me. to Ont. 

 and Minn., south to Fla., Kans. and Tex. May-June. 



2. PELTANDRA Raf. 



Bog herbs, with sagittate or hastate leaves, the petioles sheathing the shorter 

 scape. Spathe elongated, convolute, or expanded above. Flowers monoecious, 

 covering the spadix. Perianth none. Staminate flowers uppermost, consisting at 

 first, of irregularly 4-sided oblong flat-topped shields, from the edges of which 

 appear 6-10 imbedded anthers opening by apical pores, the shields shrivelling and 

 leaving the anthers nearly free. Ovaries ovoid, surrounded at base by 4 or 5 

 white fleshy scale-like staminodia, I -celled; ovules solitary or few, amphitropous; 

 style erect, thick, tipped with a small stigma. Fruit a green or red berry. 1-3- 

 seeded, when ripe forming large globose heads and enclosed in the persistent 

 leathery base of the spathe. Seeds surrounded by a tenacious jelly; endosperm 

 none. [Greek, referring to the shield-shaped stamina te disks.] The genus con- 

 sists of the two following species : 



Spathe narrow, convolute its whole length, green. x. P. Virgtnica. 



Spathe with a whitish dilated summit. 2. P. sagittaefolia. 



1. Peltandra Virginica (L.) Kunth. GREEN ARROW- ARUM. (I. F. f. 878.) 

 Leaves bright green, somewhat hastate-sagittate, 1-8 dm. long, acute or acuminate, 

 firm, strongly veined. Root a tuft of thick fibres; scape recurving and immersing 

 the fruiting spadix at maturity; spathe green, 1-2 dm. long, long-conic, closely in- 

 vesting the spadix throughout, the strongly involute margins undulate; spadix 

 shorter than the spathe, the pistillate flowers covering about one-fourth of its 

 length, the rest occupied by staminate flowers; ovaries globose-ovoid; style nearly 

 2 mm. long; berries green when ripe. In swamps or shallow water, Me. and Ont. 

 to Mich., Fla. and La. May-June. 



2. Peltandra sagittaefolia (Michx.) Morong. WHITE ARROW-ARUM. (I. F. 

 f. 879.) Leaves sagittate, sometimes wider than those of the preceding, the basal 

 lobes diverging; petioles 2-5 dm. long; spathe 7-10 cm. long, with a whitish ex- 

 panded acuminate apex; spadix scarcely more than one-half as long as the spathe; 

 ovaries ovoid; style scarcely any; stigma broad, depressed, lobed; ripe berries red. 

 In marshes and springs, southern Va. (according to Gray) to Fla. May-July. 



3. CALLA L. 



A bog herb with slender acrid rootstocks, broadly ovate or nearly orbicular cor- 

 date leaves, and a large white persistent spathe. Spathe ovate-lanceolate or 

 elliptic, acuminate, open. Spadix cylindric, much shorter than the spathe, densely 

 covered with flowers. Flowers perfect or the uppermost staminate; perianth 

 none. Stamens about 6; filaments linear; anther-sacs divaricate, opening by slits. 

 Ovary ovoid, I -celled; style very short; stigma small, flat, circular. Ovules 6-0, 

 anatrapous. Berries obconic, depressed. Seeds hard, smooth, oblong, striau- 

 toward the micropyle and pitted at the other end. Endosperm copious. [An 

 ancient name, taken from Pliny. ] A monotypic genus of the cooler portions of the 

 north temperate zone. 



I. Calla palustris L. WATER ARUM. (I. F. f. 880.) Petioles 1-2 dm. long. 

 Blades thick, entire, 310 cm. wide, cuspidate or abruptly acute; scape as long as 

 the petioles, sheathed at the base; rootstocks covered with sheathing scales and 

 with fibrous roots at the nodes; spathe 2.5-6 cm. long and about 2-5 cm. wide; 

 berries red, distinct, few-seeded, forming a large head when mature. In tx>gs, 

 N. S. to Minn., Va., Wis. and Iowa. Also in Europe and Asia. May-June. Fruit 

 ripe July-Aug. 



