58 SYMPLOCARPUS FCETIDUS. SKUNK-CABBAGE. 



we find the spadix or interior mass of flowers (see Fig. 2) frozen 

 through so solidly that it is with difficulty they can be cut apart, 

 and then they become black and rapidly decompose on thawing. 

 In the spring of 1S77, the writer of this noticed plants in full 

 flower in early March that were afterwards subjected for a week 

 to a temperature below freezing point, and part of the time to 

 eighteen degrees below. How little heat is required to bring 

 forth the flower is well illustrated in one of Collinson's letters 

 to Bartram, who sent some plants to England, which Collinson 

 says had "beautiful flowers on them when the package was 

 opened," called out by the mere heat of the ship's hold. 



The Skunk -Cabbage can also teach us a good lesson in 

 botanical relationship. Everybody knows the Calla of our 

 green-houses, properly Richardia sEthiopica, and many know 

 that it belongs to the Araccce or Arum family. The relation- 

 ship between these two plants will at once be suspected. It is 

 close, but there is some difference. Looking at the Calla, we 

 see the spadix has male flowers along the upper portion, and 

 the female flowers separately below. Our plant has these 

 organs both in the one little flower. They are hermaphrodite, 

 while the true Arums are monoecious. The family to which 

 our plant belongs has been separated as Orontiacea by some, 

 but our distinguished botanist, Dr. Asa Gray, classes it with 

 the Aracecz. Indeed, characters founded on sexual organs are 

 unreliable. In the Skunk-Cabbage they are variable. In most 

 of the flowers of the spadix we find four stamens and four 

 sepals, but in the course at the base there are generally five of 

 each, and instances of five stamens with only four sepals are not 

 uncommon in the upper flowers of the head. It is very likely 

 that in some cases the pistils entirely abort, leaving nothing but 

 perfect stamens to represent the flower. We have here a good 

 lesson on the unreliability of these parts in establishing fixed 

 characters in botanical descriptions. 



It will also please the student to watch the development of 

 stamens and pistils. If the temperature remains above forty-five 



