AROIDEA—ARUM TRIBE 17 
flowers and foliage of all the tribe have much general resemblance to our 
common British species, the Cuckoo-pint. 
CucKkoo-PINT (Arwm).—Flowers on a club-shaped spadix, which is naked 
above, and enclosed in a convolute sheath. Name from the Greek avon, its 
meaning doubtful. 
Cuckoo-PINT (Arum). 
1. Cuckoo-pint (4. maculétwm).—Stem none; leaves halberd-shaped, 
somewhat arrow-shaped, entire; common stalk of the flowers club-shaped, 
blunt ; rootstock tuberous. Every rambler in green lane, by the thick 
hedgerow, or the sunny bank which borders the meadow, delights, in early 
spring, to see the bright green glossy leaves of the Cuckoo-pint, spotted 
often with dark purple stains, and commonly four or five inches long. Those 
of us whose youthful days were spent in companionship with birds and 
flowers and waving trees, could sympathize with the feelings of Clare : 
‘* How sweet it used to be, when April first 
Unclosed the Arum leaves, and into view 
Its ear-like spindling flowers their cases burst, 
Betinged with yellowish, white, or purplish hue! 
Ah, how delighted, humming on the time 
Some nameless song or tale, I sought the flowers ! 
Some rushy dyke to jump, or bank to climb 
Ere I obtain’d them; while from hasty showers 
Oft under trees we nestled in a ring, 
Culling our Lords-and-ladies. O ye hours! 
I never see the broad-leaved Arum spring, 
Stainéd with spot of jet—I never see 
Those dear delights which April still does bring 
But Memory’s tongue repeats it all to me.” 
Scarcely an English hedgerow but has, in March, its store of the glossy 
handsome leaves; while in April the tall spathe unrolls and exhibits the 
central spadix, about three inches long, sometimes of a yellowish hue, at 
others greenish-purple, and often of a deep rich violet colour, though this 
tint is easily rubbed off. A ring of glands (aborted anthers) surrounds the 
middle of the spadix, and below this is a circle of sessile anthers; while, 
lower still, it is surrounded by the sessile ovaries, which, as the year 
advances, develép into a cluster of brilliant scarlet berries. Long after the 
leaves have withered, the stalk, about a foot high, thickly covered at the 
top with these fruits in a conspicuous mass, may be seen glistening among 
the sober-tinted wintry leaves beneath the woodland boughs. The berries 
are highly poisonous, and every part of the plant is acrid. 
Particular interest attaches to the arrangement of the organs on the 
lower part of the spadix. At one time it appeared to be quite correct to 
say it was a plan for ensuring the fertilization of the pistils by the pollen 
falling on them from above. But then observation showed that the pistils 
were mature, and had set their seeds before the anthers commenced to dis- 
charge their pollen. It was found that the unpleasant odour of the Arum 
attracts large numbers of small flies, whose usual food is decaying toadstools. 
They enter the spathe and easily pass the barrier of hairs from the aborted 
anthers, which, however, do not allow them to pass upwards again. If they 
have previously visited an Arum spathe, they are likely to bring pollen from 
Iv.—3 
