AROIDE^. (ARUM FAMILY.) 815 



ai-y axes, the lower pistillate, the upper staminate. Stamlnate fiowers : 

 perigonium consisting of entire or bifid, membranous scales, dispersed 

 among the stamens. Stamens about 3, with short, at length elono-ated 

 filaments and two-celled anthers. Pistillate Jlowers : consisting oi ses- 

 sile, free or twin, 1-celled ovaries each with a perigonium ol% pales. 

 Style short, thick, stigma unilateral. Fruit contracted at base, deci- 

 duous with pales, indehiscent, somewhat drupe-like, with a spongy 

 epicarp and a bony endocarp, the seed adherent to shell — Aquatic 

 herbs. 



S. rainosuiii, Iluds. 2^ .5 to 1 or more; stem erect, branched. 

 Leaves sword-shaped, triquetrous at base. Heads arranged in a leafy 

 panicle, sessile or rarely peduncled; pales of perigonium nearly linear, 

 abruptly spathulate toward tip, entire; stigma linear; fruits obpyra- 

 midal, stipitate, beaked — May — Standing water. 



Order CXVI. AROIDE.£. (Arum Family). ' 

 Oormous plants ■loit/i acrid jince, simple or compound, 

 often veined^ leaves^ andfloioers crowded on a fleshy sjyadix, 

 ichich is often surroionded Try a spatlie — Flowers usually 

 moncecious and naked, occasionally perfect, and famished 

 with a more or less perfect perigonium. Anthers 2-celled. 

 Ovaries free, 1-3-celled. Fruit indehiscent, (in ours) berry- 

 like. Testa of seed leathery, usually thick. Embryo straight, 

 in axis of albumen. 



* Leaves entire. 

 I. ARISAEUM. Spatlie .04 to .05 long, .01 broad. Leaves sagittate, witli flowers, 

 3, BIAEUM, Spathe .06 to .2 long. Leaves linear, oblong or lanceolate, after flowers. 

 ;j. ARUM. 8pathe .1 to .35 long. ' Leaves sagittate or hastate, before flowers. 



* * Leaves pedately dissected, 

 i. IIELICOPHYLLUM. Most of the sterile stamens between tlie two sorts of fertile flowers. 



1. ARI^ARUM, Targ. Arisakum. 



Spathe at length caducous, tube long, straight, closed, somewhat 

 contracted at throat, limb curved forward, hood-like. Spadix 

 coalesced at back with lower part of spathe, with 3-5, pistillate flowers 

 on one side, and just above them a loose spike of staminate flowers, 

 ending in a long, stalked, filiform or clubed-shaped appendage. Pistil- 

 late flowers: ovary immersed in lower part of spadix, 1-celled, oj-ovuled, 

 stjie cylindrico-conical, stigma hemispherical, tasseled. Ovules 

 attached to the basilar placenta by short funicles, orthotropous, erect. 

 Staminate flowers : flowers monandrous, short-stalked, anther peltately 

 attached, horseshoe-shaped, the two cells dehiscent by a continuous 

 slit. Berries aggregated. Seeds about 6, ovoid, acute, longitudinally 

 wrinkled, borne on an obconical funicle with a strophiole longer and 

 thicker than funicle — Cormous herbs, with sagittate leaves appearing 

 with flow^ers. 



A. vulgarc, Targ. 2X Petioles slender, much longer than 

 blade; blade ovate-cordate to sagittate, .1 long, .08 broad, obtuse or 

 acute, auricles rounded or acute, more or less divergent. Peduncle 

 about as long as petiole, much longer than spathe; spathe cylindrical, 

 .06 to .07 long, white-and-red-lined, ending in a purple, ovate to 



