JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT (Indian Turnip) 

 Arisaema triphyllum (L.) Schott 



April - May Gloaniinc: like a cre<ation in pale green wax, the 



Deep woods, slopes Jntk-in-llio-puljiit stands erect and perfect in 



tlie s])nngtinie sunlight. Here is a plant whose 

 economy of design is complete as it stands : this is it. There will be no 

 more growth of leaf or stem this year. Here is a sheath around the base 

 of the stem, a stem wliicli forks just above the sheath so that one fork 

 becomes a flower stalk and the otlier a leaf stalk. Both are mottled with 

 pale puq)le or simply are pale gi*een and watery inside, yet nevertheless 

 are stiff and erect. The Jack-in-tho-pulpit seldom or never reclines; it 

 is alert, as if st<anding cris])ly at attention. 



The top of the petiole (sometimes there are two) is composed of 

 three spreading green Icallct^ niranged triangularly. The veining is 

 prominent; this is part of the beauty of the Jack-in-the-j)uli)it leaf. The 

 ilowering stem is more slender and at its tip is a uniipie creation in these 

 American woods: this is tlu' .la(k-in-th('-j)ulpit itseU' and there is noth- 

 ing else like it. The i)ul|)it is an enclosing green sheath with a flap held 

 high at the top, surrounding and protecting a stiff green spadix (the 

 Jack itself) at the bottom of which are the true flowers. The upper part 

 of the s])adi\ is sniootli and ])ale green. It tapers and constricts past its 

 middle, and below this are tiny, closely packed, yellow staminate flowers 

 or tiny given, knobby, pistillate flowers. 



The Jack-in-the-pulpit grows, as the gi'een dragon does, from a flat 

 conn containing irritating rapliide crystals. In using the conn or "Indian 

 turnip'' for food, however, the Indians boiled it and thus rendered the 

 crvstals soft and hannless. To the uninitiated, the raw root on the tongue 

 may be a dreadful e\]ierience. 



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