Class XXI. Order VIII. 833 



This plant grows in deep ponds and rivers, where it is fre- 

 quently drawn up by the lines of anglers. Stems long, slender, 

 floating. Leaves in whorls of four together, finely divided op 

 pectinate, always under water.- The flowering spikes, which 

 are the only part that emerges, are] solitary, bearing their flow- 

 ers in small whorls. Petals caducous, or sometimes wanting, 

 according to the observation of different writers. July, Au- 

 gust.- Perennial. 



259. ARUM. 

 ARUM TRIPHYLLUM. L. Dragon root. Indian turnip. 



Stemless ; leaves trifoliate ; leafets oval, entire, 

 Mich. 



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

 and wet woods. Scape round, smooth, sheathed at base by the 

 leafstalks. Leaves ternate, smooth, the leafets oval, acumin- 

 ate^- entire. The scape supports a large, ovate, acuminate 

 spathe, forming a tube at bottom, but flattened and bent over at 

 tpp like a hood, sometimes green, and sometimes elegantly 

 striped within. Spadix club shaped, rounded at the end, green 

 or purplish black, shorter than the spathe, abruptly contracted 

 and surrounded by the germs at base. The root is globular 

 and flattened, its upper half tunicated, its lower and larger half 

 tuberous and fleshy, giving off its radicles in a circle from the 

 edge. To the taste it is violently acrid and almost caustic. 

 The acrimony however is lost by drying or boiling, and is not 

 communicated to water or spirit. The remainder of the root is 

 a mild, fai-inaceous substance, from which a sort of sago or a 1 ^ 

 row root has been prepared, May. 



