THE AEUM 

 OR CUCKOO-PINT. 



Arum maculatum. Nat. Ord., Arace<e. 

 HE subject of the present plate, 

 though by no means so rich 

 in colour as many of our wild 

 plants, has a quaint attractive- 

 ness of its own ; and though 

 deficient in many of the charms 

 of its more favoured fellows, is 

 so distinct and different in form 

 from most other plants that few 

 would pass it by unheeded. 



The large hood-like part of 

 the bloom is botanically termed 

 a spathe or spatha, from the 

 Latin word spatha, a spatula or 

 battledore, in evident allusion to 

 the form. The necessary limita- 

 tion of space has, in a few cases, 

 prevented our doing full justice to 

 the plants represented, and in the 

 present case but a small specimen of 

 the plant could be, on this account, figured. The spathe 

 is often nine or ten inches long, tapering to a point 

 at its upper extremity, opening out lower down so as 

 to show the club-like form within, and then contracting 



