RED AND INDEFINITES 



Jack-in-the-Pulpit; Indian Turnip 



{Arisaema triphylliim) Arum family 



Flowers-mnxxte, greenish yellow, clustered on the lower part of 

 a smooth, clSb-shaped, slender spadix withm a green and 

 maroon or whitish-striped spathe that curves in a broad- 

 Tinted flap above \l. Leaves : 3-foliate, usua ly overtop- 

 ^Sg the spathe, their slender petioles 9 to 30 in. high o 

 as Uill as the scape that rises from an acrid corm. Futt 

 fi^ooth shining red berries clustered on the thickened club. 



Preferred Habitat— VioX^X woodland and thickets. 



Flowerino; Season — April — ^June. , 



I)Zribntion-^ov2. Scotia westward to Minnesota, and southward 



to the Gulf States. 



A jolly looking preacher is Jack, standing erect in his parti- 

 colored pulpit with a sounding-board over his head; but he is a 

 aay deceiver, a wolf in sheep's clothing, literally a -brother to 

 dragons," an arrant upstart, an ingrate, a murderer of innocen 

 benefactors! " Female botanizing classes pounce upon it as they 

 would upon a pious young clergyman," complains Mr. E Iwanger 

 X poor relation of the stately calla Hly one knows Jack to be at a 

 glance, her lovely white robe corresponding to his striped pulpit, her 

 bright yellow spadix to his sleek reverence In the damp wood- 

 lands where his pulpit is erected beneath leafy cathedral arches, 

 minute flies or gnats, recently emerged from^ maggots in mush- 

 rooms, toadstools, or decaying logs, form the main part of his 



""""^No^w ' todrop the clerical simile, let us peep within the sheath- 

 ing spathe, or, better still, strip it off altogether. Dr. Torrey s a e s 

 fet the dark-striped spathes are the fertile plants, those with 

 green and whitish lines, sterile. Within are smooth glossy 

 folumns, and near the base of each we shall ^nd the true flowers, 

 minute affairs, some staminate ; others, on distinct plants, Pis lUate 

 the berry bearers ; or rarely both male and female florets seated on 

 the same club, as if Jack's elaborate plan to P-^^f "^ ^ef-fertU za 

 tion were not yet complete. Plants may be detected in process 



(yppH-^-^ 



