5o6 



AROfDE^ 



Ord. LXXXV. ARoiuEJE. — The Cuckoo-pint Family 



A considerable Order of curious plants, many of which much 

 resemble our British Lords-and-Ladies (Arum maculdtum). They 

 abound in tropical countries, and possess acrid and even poison- 

 ous qualities, which, however, may be dissipated by heat. They 

 mostly have fleshy, underground stems, often large, starchy corms, 

 with their small flowers on a simple fleshy peduncle or spadix, and 



enclosed in one large, sheathing 

 spathe. The flowers are either 

 perfect or monoecious ; the 

 perianth absent or represented 

 by 4 — 8 scales ; stamens i — 8 ; 

 ovary i — 3-chambered, superior; 

 fruit berry-like. Some species 

 of Ardorphophdllus, natives of 

 tropical Asia, have enormous 

 corms : the Dumb-Cane of the 

 West Indies (Dieffenbdchia 

 seguina) is so called from pro- 

 ducing, when chewed, a violent 

 and painful swelling of the 

 tongue and uvula : species of 

 Calddiiim are cultivated for 

 their variegated leaves ; and 

 those of Anthurium for their 

 spathes, which are sometimes 

 a brilliant scarlet, for which 

 reason the name Flamingo- 

 flower has been applied to them. 

 Zantedeschia cethibpica, under 

 the name of Trumpet-lily or 

 Calla, is one of the best-known 

 members of the Order. In 

 South Africa it is known as the 

 Pig-lily, pigs feeding on its 

 corms. An attempt has been 

 made to utilise the starch in these stems, but it is mixed with 

 numerous needle-like crystals. These raphides, as they are called, 

 are also abundant in our British Arum maculdtum, an acridly 

 poisonous plant, the corms of which were formerly, however, 

 collected in the Isle of Portland for the manufacture of Portland 

 Arrowroot. The Sweet Sedge (Acorus Calamus), another British 

 species, has no raphides. This plant in olden times supplied the 



Arum maci'latum 

 (Cuckoo-pint, Wake-Robin, Lords-and- 

 Ladies). 



