AKACEA:. (AKTM FAMILY.) 



bryo. A large family, chiefly tropical. Herbage abounding in slender 

 rhaphides. --The genuine Araceze have no floral envelopes, and are al- 

 most all monoecious or dioecious ; but the genera of the second section, 

 with more highly developed flowers, are not to be separated. 



* Spathe surrounding or subtending the spadix ; flowers naked, i. e. without perianth. 

 1. Arissema. Flowers monoecious or dioecious, covering only the base of the spadix. 

 -'. Peltaiiclra. Flowers monoecious, covering the spadix ; anthers above, ovaries below. 

 3. Calla. Flowers perfect (at least the lower ones), covering the whole of the short spadix. 



Spathe open and spreading. 



* * Spathe surrounding the spadix in n. 4, none or imperfect in the rest ; flowers with a 

 calyx or perianth and perfect, covering the whole spadix. 



4. Symplucarpus. Spadix globular, in a fleshy shell-shaped spathe. Stemlees. 



5. Orontium. Spadix narrow, naked, terminating t! e terete scape. 



6. Acorus. Spadix cylindrical, borne on the side ui' a ie^f-like scape. 



1. AR IS JEM A, Martins. INDIAN TURNIP. DRAGON ARUM. 



Spathe convolute below and mostly arched above. Flowers monoecious or 

 by abortion dioecious, covering only the base of the spadix, which is elonga- 

 ted and naked above. Floral envelopes none. Sterile flowers above the fer- 

 tile, each of a cluster of almost sessile 2-4-celled anthers, opening by pores 

 or chinks at the top. Fertile flowers consisting each of a 1-celled ovary, tipped 

 with a depressed stigma, and containing 5 or 6 orthotropous ovules erect from 

 the base of the cell ; in fruit a 1 - few-seeded scarlet berry. Embryo in the 

 axis of albumen. Low perennial herbs, with a tuberous rootstock or corm, 

 sending up a simple scape sheathed with the petioles of the simple or compound 

 veiny leaves. (Name from apis, a kind of arum, and al/j.a, blood, from the spot- 

 ted leaves of some species.) 



1. A. triphyllum, Torr. (INDIAN TURNIP.) Leaves mostly 2, divided 

 into 3 elliptical-ovate pointed leaflets ; spadix mostly dioecious, club-shaped, ob- 

 tuse, much shorter than the spathe, which is flattened and incurved-hooded at 

 the ovate-lanceolate, pointed summit. Rich woods, N. Scotia to Fla., west to 

 Minn, and E. Kan. May. Corm turnip-shaped, wrinkled, farinaceous, with 

 an intensely acrid juice ; spathe with the petioles and sheaths green, or often 

 variegated with dark purple and whitish stripes or spots. 



2. A. Dracontium, Schott. (GREEN DRAGON. DRAGON-ROOT.) Leaf 

 usually solitary, pedately divided into 7-11 oblong-lanceolate pointed leaflets; 

 spadix often and roc/ y nous, tapering to a long and slender point beyond the oblong 

 and convolute pointed greenish spathe. Low grounds, N. Eng. to Fla., west 

 to Minn., E. Kan., and Tex. June. Corms clustered; petiole 1-2 long, 

 much longer than the peduncle. 



2. PELTANDRA, Raf. ARROW ARUM. 



Spathe elongated, convolute throughout or with a dilated blade above. 

 Flowers monoecious, thickly covering the long and tapering spadix through- 

 out (or only its apex naked). Floral envelopes none. Anther-masses sessile, 

 naked, covering all the upper part of the spadix, each of 4-6 pairs of cells 

 imbedded in the margin of a thick and shield-shaped connective, opening by 

 terminal pores. Ovaries at the base of the spadix, each surrounded by 4-5 

 distinct, scale-like, white staminodia, 1-celled, bearing 1 few amphitropona 



