NAT. ORDER. 



Aracece. 



ARUM TRILOBATUM. ' THREE LOBED ARUM. 



Class XX. Gynandria. Order III. Hexandria. 

 Gen. Char. Sjyaihe, one leafed, cowled. Spadix, naked above ; 



female below. Stamens, in the middle. 

 Spe. Char. Leaves, hastate, quite entire. Spadix, club-shaped. 



The Arum trilohatum which our figure represents, is an exotic 

 plant, and by most writers said to be a native of Amboyna and 

 Ceylon. The root in appearance very much resembles the arum 

 triphyllum, and is extremely acrid : the jilant is the smallest of the 

 tribe, and particularly distinguished by the rich brown, velvety 

 appearance of its flowers ; the length of its tapering sjM/dix, espe- 

 cially on its lower part, is full of small cavities, and resembles in 

 appearance a piece of metal corroded by long exposure ; and by 

 the insupportable smell which the whole of the flowei% but more 

 especially the spadix, sends forth. 



Mr. Miller, in his figure of this plant, to which Linnasus 

 refers, has been more happy in his representation, than in that of 

 many others. Rumphius' figure and description accord with our 

 plant, although some of his leaves are more perfectly three-lobed 

 than any we have seen here on the living plant, and to this varia- 

 tion he informs us they are subject. We learn from Miller and 

 others, that this singular plant was first brought into notice in the 

 year 1752, and was discovered growing wild in the neighborhood 

 of Ceylon. It flowers in May and June, and is regarded by most 

 botanists as a hot-house plant ; wc have seen it succeed very well 



Vol ii.-67 



