CALLA BALUSTRIS. BOG-ARUM. IO7 



ment. He says : " More beauty (in an Alpine garden) than any 

 native plant affords, results from planting in boggy places this 

 small, trailing A red, which has pretty little spathes of the color 

 of those of its relative, the Ethiopian Lily. It is thoroughly 

 hardy, and though often grown in water, likes a moist bog 

 much better. In a bog or muddy place, shaded by trees to 

 some extent, it will grow larger in flower and leaf than in water, 

 though it is quite at home when fully exposed. In a bog car- 

 peted by the dark-green leaves of this plant, the effect is very 

 pleasing, as its white flowers crop up here and there along each 

 rhizome, 'just raised above the leaves. Those having natural 

 bogs would find it a very interesting plant to introduce to them ; 

 and for the moist, spongy spots near the rock garden, or by the 

 side of a rill, it is one of the best things that can be used." We 

 may add that those who have no moist places on their grounds 

 can cultivate this and similar plants by filling small kegs with 

 earth and sinking them in the ground to their rim. As the 

 water cannot readily escape, a sort of a natural bog results, 

 which suits these plants very well in the stead of their natural 

 habitats. 



The Bog-Arum is not only a native of the United States, but 

 is also common in Northeastern Europe, and its hardiness may be 

 well understood from its being a very common plant in Lapland. 

 In some of these high northern regions, it seems, indeed, to 

 grow with more luxuriance than it ever reaches in our country. 

 An old writer speaks of it as, in these high latitudes, "growing 

 so vigorously as often to exclude other plants, and occupy whole 

 marshes alone by themselves. They have a hot, biting taste, 

 and yet bread is made from the roots." An English writer of 

 several centuries ago also speaks of an " Aron known as Starch- 

 wort"; and it is quite likely that the species native with us is 

 the one alluded to ; for Dr. Lindley says : " The rhizomes of 

 Calla palustris, although acrid and caustic to the highest degree, 

 arc, according to Linnaeus, made into a kind of bread in high 

 estimation in Lapland. This is performed by drying and grind- 



