ARACE^. 383 



4. SYMPLOCARPUS. Salisb.— Skunk Cabbage. 



(From the Greek avjjinXoKT], connection, and Kapms, fruit ; the berries being 

 united.) 



Spathe ventricose-ovate, acuminate. Spadix roimdish, cov- 

 ered with perfect flowers. Perianth deeply 4-parted, persist- 

 ent ; segments ciicullate, truncate, becoming thick and spongy. 

 Stamens 4. Style pyramidal, 4-sided. Stigma simple, minute. 

 Berries numerous, globular, imbedded in the spadix. 



S. fcetidus Salisb. : leaves cordate-ovate ; spadix oval, much shorter than 

 the spathe. Modes fcetidus Big. Pathos fcetida Mich. 



Wet meadows. Can. to Car. Feb. — April. %. — Rhizoma large, with nu- 

 merous thick fibres. Leaves appearing after the spathe, very large, petiolate, 

 cordate-ovate, smooth. Spathe ovate-convolute, purple, spotted with green and 

 yellow, bent over at the summit. Spadix about an inch long, peduncled, densely 

 covered with purplish flowers. Whole plant very fetid. Medicinal. Bif^. Med. 

 Bot. n, 41. Common Skunk Cabbage. 



5. ACORUS. Linn.—Sweet Flag, 



(From the Greek a, without, and Kopri, the pupil of the eye ; a supposed remedy 

 for sore eyes.) 



Spathe leaf-like, continuous with the scape. Spadix cylin- 

 dric, covered with flowers. Perianth glumaceous, 6-leaved. 

 Stamens 6. Ovary 1. Stigma minute, sessile. Fruit baccate 

 or capsular. 



A. Calamus Linn. : scape ancipital, with an ensiforra point rising above 

 the spadix. 



Swamps. Can. to Car. June. % — Rhizoma horizontal, creeping, aromatic. 

 Leaves 2—3 feet long, and 6 — 10 lines wide. -Scope similar to the leaves, some- 

 what triangular below the spadix. Spadix sessile on the side of the scape, 2 — 3 

 inches long, terete, covered with minute greenish flowers. 



Common Sweet Flag. 



6. ORONTIUM. Linn.— Oxon\:mm. 

 (An ancient name, supposed to refer to the river Orontes.) 

 Spathe none. Spadix cylindric, covered with flowers. Per- 

 ianth of 4 — 6 truncate concave sepals. Stamens 4 — 6. Ovary 

 superior. Stigma sessile, subumbilicate. Utricle 1 -seeded. 

 O. aquaiicum Linn. 



Ponds and marshes. Can. to Flor. May. %. — ScapeS — 18 inches long, cla- 

 vate. Leaves on long petioles, floating, the lamina varying from oblong-lance- 

 olate to elliptic-lanceolate, deep-green above, paler beneath. Spadix 1 — 2 inches 

 long, yellow, somewhat tapering; the flowers crowded and sessile. 



Water Orontium. Golden Chtb. 



