RED AND INDEFINITES 



Jack-in-the-Pulpit ; Indian Turnip 

 (Arisaema triphyllum) Arum family 



Flowers — Minute, greenish yellow, clustered on the lower pari of 

 a smooth, club-shaped, slender spadix within a green and 

 maroon or whitish-striped spathe that curves in a broad- 

 pointed flap above it. Leaves: ^-foliate, usually overtop- 

 ping the spathe. their slender petioles 9 to 50 in. high, or 

 as tall as the scape that rises from an acrid corm. Fruit: 

 Smooth, shining red berries clustered on the thickened club. 



Preferred Habitat— -Moist woodland and thickets. 



Flowering Season — April — June. 



Distribution — Nova Scotia westward to Minnesota, and southward 

 to the Gulf States. 



A jolly looking preacher is Jack, standing erect in his parti- 

 colored pulpit with a sounding-board over his head; but he is a 

 gay deceiver, a wolf in sheep's clothing, literally a " brother to 

 dragons," an arrant upstart, an ingrate, a murderer of innocent 

 benefactors! " Female botanizing classes pounce upon it as they 

 would upon a pious young clergyman," complains Mr. Ellwanger. 

 A poor relation of the stately calla lily one knows Jack to be at a 

 glance, her lovely white robe corresponding to his striped pulpit, her 

 bright yellow spadix to his sleek reverence. In the damp wood- 

 lands where his pulpit is erected beneath leafy cathedral arches. 

 minute flies or gnats, recently emerged from maggots in mush- 

 rooms, toadstools, or decaying logs, form the main part of his 

 congregation. 



Now, to drop the clerical simile, let us peep within the sheath- 

 ing spathe, or, better still, strip it off altogether. Dr. Torrev states 

 that the dark-striped spathes are the fertile plants, those with 

 green and whitish lines, sterile. Within are smooth, glossy 

 columns, and near the base of each we shall find the true flowers, 

 minute affairs, some staminate ; others, on distinct plants, pistillate, 

 the berry bearers ; or rarely both male and female florets seated on 

 the same club, as if Jack's elaborate plan to prevent self-fertiliza- 

 tion were not yet complete. Plants may be detected in process 



367 



