ARACE^. 425 



If flowers unisexual, then either in different spadices ; or 



the male flowers above, the female below on the same 



spadix, and often sterile flowers or hairs between the 



two and at the top. Anthers sessile, two to four-celled. 



Ovary one to three-celled, with short style, discoid stigma 



and one or more ovules. Fruits fleshy, with usually one 



seed only. 



Species 1,000, mainly in the tropics. In Europe, arum, 

 Lords and Ladies, Friar's Cowl, etc., Fr. Gouet, Ger. Aronswurz. 



Various genera are common in our gardens : e.g., anthurium and 

 ALOCASSiA and the climbers on trees, pothos, philodendron, monstera. 



The so-called Easter-lily, Calla aethiopica Z., or Richardia 

 africana Kunth, a native of South Africa, is established in damp 

 places near Ootacamund. 



ARISi€MA. F.B.L 166 IV. 



Cobra- flower. 



Herbs with tuberous rootstock and palmately com- 

 pound stalked leaves, and the top of the spadix sterile- 

 Ovary one-celled. 



Species about 50, Asia and North America. 



Leaflets distinct : spadix entirely enclosed in the spathe . . . 



A. leschenaultii. 

 Leaflet not all separate : end of spadix long and slender . . . 



A. tortuosum. 



Arisa2ma tortuosum Schott ; F.B.L vi 502, IV 18. Rats- 

 tail Cobra-flower. 



Stem salmon colour or green, mottled purple. Leaf- 

 sheath very long, stalk 2 inches. Leaflets elliptic, 

 pedately attached to each other, i.e., in twos and threes. 

 Nerves numerous, nearly parallel and straight, joined 

 by cross-veins, and meeting in a nerve % inch from the 

 margin, which is connected by straight veins to another 

 nerve close to the margin. Spathe ^ inch wide at the 

 base, with overlapping margins: hood 2 inches wide, 



