Class XXI. Order VIII. 347 



407. ARUM. 



ARUM TRIPHYLLUM. L. Dragon Root. Indian Turnip. 

 Stemless ; leaves trifoliate ; leatets oval, entire. 

 Mich. 



Bigelow, Medical Botany, PI. iv. 



A singular and not inelegant plant, native of our swamps and 

 wet woods. The root is round and flattened, its upper part tu- 

 nicated like the onion, its lower and larger portion tuberous and 

 fleshy, giving off numerous, long, white radicles in a circle from 

 its upper edge. It is covered on the under side with a dark, 

 loose, wrinkled skin. Leaves usually one or two, on long, sheath- 

 ing footstalks, composed of three oval, mostly entire, acuminate 

 Icafets, which are smooth, paler on the under side, and becoming 

 glaucous as the plant grows older, the two lateral ones somewhat 

 rhomboidal. Scape erect, round, grfen or variegated with pur- 

 ple, invested at base by the petioles, and by acute sheaths. 

 This supports a large, ovate, acuminate spathe, convoluted into 

 a tube at bottom, but flattened and bent over at the top, like a 

 hood. Its internal colour is exceedingly various, even in 

 plants growing together. In some it is wholly green, in 

 others, dark purple or black. In most, it is variegated, with 

 pale greenish stripes on a dark ground. The spadix is much 

 shorter than the spathe, club shaped, rounded at the end, green, 

 purple, black or variegated, suddenly contracted into a narrow 

 neck at base, and surrounded below by the stamens or germs. 

 In the barren plants its base is covered with conical, fleshy fila- 

 ments, bearing from two to four circular anthers each. In the 

 fertile plants it is invested with roundish, crowded germs, each 

 tipped with a stigma. Plants which are perfectly monoecious, 

 and which are the least common, have stamens below the germs. 

 There are also frequently found irregular reniform substances, 

 much larger than the anthers, of which they seem to be 

 a disease. The upper part of the spadix withers with the 

 spathe, while the germs grow into a large, compact bunch of 

 shining scarlet berries. 



Every part of the Arum, and especially the root, is violently 

 acrid, and almost caustic. Applied to the tongue, or to any se- 

 creting surface, it produces an effect like Cayenne pepper, but 



