Acorus ARACEAE Arisaema 



1. Acorus Linn. Sweet Flag SUM (Pai Ch'ang Shu) 



Aromatic marsh plants from creeping rhizomes: Ivs. grass-like: peduncle leaf -like, 

 bearing a single cylindrical spadix which is subtended by an herbaceous prolongation 

 of the peduncle, but is not enclosed in a spathe: fls. perfect, 6-merous: fr. a few- 

 seeded berry. Two species, in the northern hemisphere. (An old Greek name.) 



Key to the Species 



Plants 4-12 dm. tall: lvs. with prominent midrib: spathe extending 



like a well-developed If 1 . A. calamus 



Plants 1-4 dm. tall: lvs. without midrib: spathe weakly developed 2. A. gramineus 



1. Acorus calamus Linn. &MW (Pai Ch'ang P'u; White Sweet- flag) (B.M.180). Coarse, 

 reed-like, 1-2 m. tall; fls. yellowish, V-VI; lvs. 10-15 mm. wide. Northern hemis- 

 phere; locally in Ku. Marshes. Fig. 465. 



2. Acorus gramineus Ait. S" grill (Shih Ch'ang P'u; Stone Sweet-flag) (B.M.180). 

 Grass-like, 3-4 dm. tall; fls. yellowish, V-VII; lvs. 3-5 mm. wide. Asia; locally 

 in An., Che., Hun., Hup., KL, Ku. Marshes. 



2. Amorphophallus Blume Mt%M (Kou Yo Shu) 

 Erect herbs from large fleshy corms: lvs. borne on a long roughened mottled 

 petiole, tripartite; segments irregularly pinnatisect; rachis winged: Jig. scape develop- 

 ing before the lvs.: spathe and spadix various, often very large: anthers 2-4; ovaries 

 1-4-celled: fr. a 1-4-seeded berry. About 90 species, especially in the eastern tropics; 

 5 in China. (From the Greek terms meaning "deformed phallus".) 



1. Amorphophallus sinensis Belval fc^ (Mu Yu; Woody Taro) (BSBF 80:98). Stout, 

 to 1.5m.; fls. rose to violet, V-VI; spathe mottled; fr. red, becoming blue, VII. 

 China; locally in An., Ku. Moist woods. 



3. Colocasia Schott ^M (Yu Shu) 

 Coarse stout herbs from fleshy conns; with large simple entire ovate-cordate peltate 

 lvs.: spadix enclosed by the spathe: fls. unisexual; the staminate (above) and the 

 pistillate (below) separated by a zone of neutral ones (staminodes): berries small. 8 

 species, in Indomalaya; one cultivated in China. (An old Greek name.) 



1. Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott Taro -7- (Yii; Flourishing Root) (B.M. 189). Stout, 

 tolm. Tropical countries; locally in An., Che., KL, Ku. Cultivated, food. 

 Fig. 466. 



4. Arisaema Mart. Dragon Arum %~MM.M (T'ien Nan Hsing Shu) 

 Erect cormose herbs: lvs. palmately compound, with membranous lfts. : peduncle 

 solitary: spadix enclosed by the spathe; tube of the spathe unconstricted and open at the 

 top; spathe margins overlapping but not connate: fls. unisexual; the pistillate below; 

 ovary with two or more ovules: fr. a scarlet berry. Over 100 species, in temperate 

 and tropical Asia, Ethiopia, and North America; 15 in China. (From the Greek terms 

 meaning "a kind of arum" and "blood", referring to the spotted leaves of some 

 species.) 



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