454 AROIDE^. [part ii. 



chafF-like calyx, enclosing the stamens, the fila- 

 ments of which are united at the base, and the 

 anthers are very long and of a bright yellow. 

 The seed is a dry capsule, and the plant has a 

 rhizoma or creeping stem under the water. 



ORDER CCIV.— AROIDE^.— THE ARUM TRIBE. 



These curious plants have their flow^ers in a 

 spadix, enclosed in a spathe, the male and 

 female flowers being separate, and the former 

 above the latter, with some abortive ovaries 

 again above them. The male flowers have 

 only one stamen in each without any covering ; 

 and the female flow^ers in Hke manner consist 

 each of a single ovary, with a puckered-up hole 

 in the upper part, which serves as the stigma. 

 The fruit consists of a cluster of red berries, 

 which form round the spadix. Many of these 

 plants have a very unpleasant smell, and some 

 of them have a tuberous root, which, when 

 cooked, is eaten, though it is poisonous when 

 raw. Arum or Caladium escuJentum is thus eaten 

 as a common article of food in the East Indies ; 

 but the Dumb Cane {A. or C. seguinum) has its 

 English name from its juice being so poisonous 

 as, if tasted, to cause the lips to swell so as to 

 prevent the possibility of speaking. The beau- 

 tiful marsh plant called Calla or Richardia ethio- 



