550 ARACE^. (arum family.) 



ovules at the base; stigma truncate. Fruit a leathery or fleshy berry, 1-3- 

 seeded. Seed obovate, surrounded by tenacious jelly, the base empty, the 

 upper part filled with a large fleshy spherical embryo ; no albumen. — Stem- 

 less herbs, with arrow-shaped or hastate leaves, palmately 3-nerved and pin- 

 nately veined, and simple scapes from a thick-fibrous or subtuberous root. 

 Fruit in a globose cluster, enclosed by the persistent fleshy base of the spathe. 

 (Name from t^thrr}, a target, and avrjp, for stamen, from the shape of the latter.) 



1. P. undulata, Raf. Root of thick tufted fibres ; scape 1 - 1^° high, about 

 equalling the leaves ; basal lobes of the leaves rather long and often acutish ; 

 spathe convolute throughout, wavy on the m.argin, mostly green, 4-7' long ; 

 sterile portion of the spadix several times longer than the pistillate ; ovules 

 several ; fruit green ; seeds 1-3= (P. Virgiuica, Kunth, and most authors.) — 

 Shallow water, New Eng. to Fla., west to ]\lich. and Ind. June. 



2. P. alba, Raf. Rootstock tuberous, covered with thick-fleshy roots and 

 propagating by offshoots ; lobes of the leaves mostly short and broad, obtuse ; 

 spathe 3-4' long, the blade broader, acuminate, somewhat expanded, white ; 

 sterile part of the spadix scarcely longer than the pistillate ; ovules and seeds 

 solitary ; berry scarlet, 5 - 6" long. (P. Virgiuica, Schott. Xanthosoma sagit- 

 tifolia, Chapni., not Schott. Caladium glaucum, Ell. Arum Virginicum, L., 

 in part 1) — Marshes, S. Va. (?) and N. C. to Fla. 



3. C A L L A, Lo Water Arum. 



Spathe open and spreading , ovate (abruptly pointed, the upper surface 

 white), persistent. Spadix oblong, entirely covered with flowers; the lower 

 perfect and 6-androus ; the upper often of stamens only. Floral envelopes 

 none. Filaments slender; anthers 2-celled, opening lengthwise. Ovary 1- 

 celled, with 5-9 erect anatropous ovules ; stigma almost sessile. Berries (red) 

 distinct, few-seeded. Seeds with a conspicuous rhaphe and an embryo nearly 

 the length of the hard albumen. — A low perennial herb, growing in cold 

 bogs, with a long creeping rootstock, bearing heart-shaped long-petioled leaves, 

 and solitary scapes. (An ancient name, of unknown meaning.) 



1. C. pallistris, L. — Cold bogs, N. Scotia to N. J., west to Mich, and 

 Minn., and northward. June. — Seeds surrounded with jelly. (Eu.) 



4. SYMPLOCARPUS, Salisb. Skunk Cabbage. 



Spathe hooded-shell-form, pointed, very thick and fleshy, decaying in fruit. 

 Spadix globular, short-stalked, entirely and densely covered with perfect 

 flowers, their 1 -celled or abortively 2-celled ovaries immersed in the fleshy 

 receptacle. Sepals 4, hooded. Stamens 4, opposite the sepals, with at length 

 rather slender filaments ; anthers extrorse, 2-celled, opening lengthwise. 

 Style 4-augled and awl-shaped ; stigma small. Ovule solitary, suspended, 

 anatropous. Fruit a globular or oval mass, composed of the enlarged and 

 spongy spadix, enclosing the spherical seeds just beneath the surface, which is 

 roughened with the persistent fleshy sepals and pyramidal styles. Seeds filled 

 by the large globular and fleshy corm-like embryo, which bears one or several 

 plumules at the end next the base of the ovary ; albumen none. — Perennial 

 herb, with a strong odor like that of the skunk, and also somewhat alliaceous ; 

 a very thick rootstock, bearing a multitude of long and coarse fibrous roots. 



