ARUM FAMILY. 361 
1. ARISAEMA Mart. Flora, 14: 459. 1831. 
Perennial herbs with acrid corms, simple scapes and 1 to 3 slender-petioled divided 
leaves unfolding with the flowers. Spadix included or exserted, bearing the flowers near its 
base. Spathe conyolute, open or contracted at the throat. Flowers dioecious or monoe- 
cious, without any perianth, the staminate of 4 almost sessile 2-4-celled anthers which open 
by confluent slits at the apex, the pistillate with an ovoid or globose 1-celled ovary contain- 
ing I or many orthotropous ovules; style very short or none, tipped with a peltate-capitate 
stigma. Fruit a globose red berry, the clusters usually large and conspicuous when ripe. 
Seeds with copious endosperm and an axial embryo. [Greek, in reference to the red- 
blotched leaves of some species. ] 
About 50 species, mostly natives of temperate and subtropical Asia. Besides the following, 
another occurs in the mountains of North Carolina. 
Spathe hooded, open at the throat, enclosing the spadix. 1. A. triphyllum. 
Spathe convolute; summit of the spadix exserted. 2. A. Dracontium. 
1. Arisaema triphyllum (L,.) Torr. Jack-in-the-pulpit. Indian Turnip. 
(Fig. 876.) 
Arum triphyllum VU. Sp. Pl. 965. 1753. 
Arisaema atrorubens Blume, Rumphia, 1:97. 1835. 
Arisaema triphyllum Torr. Fl. N. Y. 2: 239. 1843. 
Leaves I or 2, nearly erect, 10’—3° high, usually 
exceeding the scape, 3-foliolate, the segments ovate, 
entire, or sometimes lobed, acute rounded or nar- 
rowed at the base, 3/-7’ long, 114/-31%4’ wide, 
sessile or very short-stalked; flowers commonly 
dioecious, yellow, borne on the basal part of the 
spadix; spadix 2’—3/ long, its naked summit blunt, 
colored; spathe green, and purple-striped, curving 
in a broad flap over the top of the spadix, acumi- 
nate; filaments very short and thick; ovaries 
crowded; ovules 5 or 6; berries smooth, shining, 
about 5’’ in diameter, forming a dense ovoid head 
1/-3/ long. 
In moist woods and thickets, Nova Scotia to Florida, 
west to Ontario, Minnesota, Kansas and Louisiana. 
Ascends to 5000 ft. in North Carolina. April-June. 
Fruit ripe June-July. The acrid bulb made edible by 
boiling. 
2. Arisaema Dracontium (L.) Schott. Green Dragon. Dragon-root. 
(Fig. 877.) 
Arum Dracontium V,. Sp. Pl. 964. 1753. 
Arisaema Dracontium Schott, Melet. 1: 17. 1832. 
Corms clustered. Leaves usually solitary, 8/-4° 
long, pedately divided into 5-17 segments, much 
longer than the scape; segments obovate or oblong, 
3/-10 long, 9/’-4’ wide, abruptly acute at the apex, 
narrowed to a sessile or nearly sessile base, entire or 
the lateral ones somewhat lobed; scape sheathed by 
membranous scales at the base; spathe greenish or 
whitish, narrowly convolute, acuminate, 1/-2/ long, 
enwrapping the spadix, the upper part of which tapers 
into a slender appendage exserted 1/-7’ beyond its 
apex; inflorescence of the staminate plant nearly as 
long as the tubular part of the spathe; in the monoe- 
cious plant the pistillate flowers are borne on the lower 
part of the spadix; ovary turbinate, with 6-8 bottle- 
shaped ovules; stigmas depressed; berries reddish- 
orange in large ovoid heads. 
Mostly in wet woods and along streams, but sometimes 
in dry soil, Maine to Ontario and Minnesota, south to 
Florida, Kansas and Texas. May-June. 
