ARACEAE ARUM FAMILY 
GREEN DRAGON 
Arisaema Dracontium (L.) Schott 
The Green Dragon is found mostly in wet woods and along 
streams, but occasionally in dry soil, from Maine to Minnesota 
and south to Florida and Texas. It grows from a cluster of 
corms, and its usually 
monoecious flowers 
bloom in May and 
June. 
Usually there is 
only 1 leaf, 8-48 inch- 
es long, oddly com- 
pound in that its 
§-17 leaflets are ar- 
ranged more like the 
toes of the foot in- 
stead of fingers of 
the hand, as shown. 
Several membranous 
scales envelop the 
flowering stalk at the 
base. 
The outer part of the green or sometimes whitish inflorescence 
is the spathe and the long slender structure projecting 1-7 inches 
from it is the tip of the spadix. The lower part of the spadix bears 
the flowers except when both forms are on the same plant; then 
the staminate are grouped together above the pistillate. Each 
staminate flower consists merely of 4 almost sessile anthers 
which open by slits at the end. The pistillate flower consists of 
a top-shaped ovary, containing 6-8 bottle-shaped ovules, and a 
sessile stigma. The fruits are orange-red berries clustered in a 
large head. 
The Green Arrow Arum, Peltandra virginica (L.) Kunth, is 
marked by its long, arrow to spear-shaped bright green leaves, which 
are firm and strongly veined. A long, green and wavy-margined 
spathe encloses the shorter spadix, which is covered about one 
fourth of its length by pistillate flowers and the rest by staminate, 
or remains sterile. The berry fruits are green when ripe. This is also 
a swamp dweller, from Maine and Ontario to Michigan, south to 
Florida, Louisiana and Missouri, and likewise blooms in May and 
June. 
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