447 
ARACEJE. (ARUM FAMILY.) 
seeded. Seed obovate, surrounded by a tenacious jelly, some- 
what amphitropous, with the micropyle superior, the base empty; 
the upper part filled with a large and fleshy spherical embryo, 
the plumule superior, and no albumen. — A stemless herb, with 
arrow-shaped leaves and simple scapes from the root of thick 
tufted fibres. Upper part of the spathe and the sterile portion 
of the spadix rotting away after flowering, leaving the fleshy base 
firmly inclosing the globular cluster of green berries. (Name com¬ 
posed of jkXtij, a target, and dwjp, for anther, from the shield- 
shaped stamens.) 
Vlrgfnlca, Raf. (Arum Virginicum, L. Lecontia, 
Torr. Rensselferia, Beck.) — Swampy borders of ponds and streams, 
common. June. — Leaves with their stalks 12' -18' long, pointed, 
t e lobes at the base blunt or pointed: nerves reticulated next the 
margin. (It seems to have escaped attention that this plant has an 
exalbuminous corm-like embryo , nearly as in Symplocarpus.) 
CAliIiA* L. Water Arum. 
Spathe spreading, ovate (abruptly pointed, the upper surface 
white), persistent. Spadix oblong, entirely covered with flowers, 
the lower perfect, the upper often of stamens only. Floral envel¬ 
opes none. Filaments slender : anthers 2-celled, opening length¬ 
wise. Ovary 1-celled, with 5-6 erect anatropous ovules : stigma 
sessile. Berries distinct, few-seeded. Seeds with a conspicuous 
raphe, and an embryo nearly the length of the hard albumen. — A 
low perennial herb, growing in cold bogs, with a creeping thick- 
ish rootstock, bearing heart-shaped long-petioled leaves, and solita¬ 
ry scapes. (An ancient name, of unknown meaning.) 
1- C* palustris, L.— Bogs, &c., New England to Wisconsin, 
common northward. June. — Berries few, in a cluster, red, ripe in 
autumn : seeds surrounded with jelly. 
SYMPLOCARPUS, Salisb. Skunk Cabbage. 
Spathe hooded-shell-form, pointed, fleshy, decaying in fruit. 
Spadix on a short peduncle, entirely covered with perfect flowers 
which are thickly crowded and their (1-celled or abortively 2- 
celled) ovaries immersed in the fleshy receptacle. Sepals 4, hood¬ 
ed. Stamens 4, opposite the sepals, with short filaments: anthers 
extrorse, 2-celled, opening lengthwise. Style 4-angled: stigma 
