A R U 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



A R U 



127 





Bread-fruit tree ; it is a native of Malabar, and other parts oi 

 . the East Indies. The fruit, which ripens in December, is 

 eaten, but esteemed difficult of digestion : the unripe fruit 

 is also pickled, or cut in slices and boiled, or fried in palm-oil 

 The nuts are eaten roasted, and the skin next them is used 

 instead of the Areca-nut in chewing Betel. The wood of the 

 tree is employed in building. Thirty varieties of this fruit 

 are enumerated in Malabar. 



Arum ; a genus of the class Gynandria, order Polyandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male/lowers, on the same spadix 

 as the females, closely placed between a double row of 

 threads. Calix : spathe one-leafed, very large, oblong, 

 convolute at the base, converging at the top ; the belly com- 

 pressed, coloured within ; spadix club-shaped, quite simple, 

 a little shorter than the spathe, coloured, fenced at bottom 

 with germina, and shrivelling above them ; perianth proper 

 none. Corolla : none. Nectaries thick at the base, ending 

 in threads or tendrils, in two rows, issuing from the middle 

 of the spadix. Stamina : filamenta none ; each anfhera ses- 

 sile, four-cornered. Female flowers, on the lower part of 

 the spadix, close to each other. Calic : spathe and spadix 

 common to them with the males ; perianth proper none. 

 Corolla : none. Pistil : germen each obovate ; style none ; 

 stigma bearded with villose hairs. Pericarp : berry globu- 

 lar, one-celled. Seeds : several, roundish. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Spathe one-leafed, cowled ; spadix naked above, 

 female below, stamineous in the middle. The Arums are all 

 perennial herbaceous plants, mostly natives of hot climates : 

 their roots are fleshy, hot, and acrid, but many species eat- 

 able. The species are, 



* Without Stems; Leaves compound. 



1. Arum Crinitum; Hairy -slieathed Arum. Leaves pedate, 

 with the lateral segments involute ; spathe hairy within ; 

 spadix ramentaceous above. The flower of this plant smells 

 very strong of carrion, by which flies are enticed to enter, 

 but when they attempt to retreat, the reversed hairs prevent 

 them, and they are there starved to death. In England it 

 flowers in March, and is a native of Minorca. 



2. Arum Dracunculus ; Long-sheathed Arum, or Common 

 Dragon. Leaves pedate, compound ; leaflets lanceolate, 

 quite entire ; lamina ovate, longer than the spadix. The 

 flower is shaped like the Common Arum, having a very long 

 spathe of a dark purple colour, standing erect, with a large 

 spadix of the same colour ; so that when it is in flower, it 

 makes no unpleasing appearance, but has so strong a scent 

 of carrion that it cannot be endured. It grows naturally in 

 most of the southern parts of Europe, and is preserved in 

 gardens to supply the markets. It appears to be similar in 

 medicinal virtues,as in botanical characters toCommon Arum, 

 but rather more pungent, and therefore might be used in the 

 same cases in which the latter only is generally employed. 

 It is very hardy, growing in any soil or situation. The offsets 

 from the roots propagate very fast ; the time to transplant it 

 is in autumn, when the leaves decay. 



3. Arum Dracontium ; Short-sheathed Arum, or Green 

 Dragon. Leaves pedate, compound; leaflets lanceolate, quite 

 entire, longer than the spathe, which is shorter than the 

 spadix. It grows about eight or nine inches high ; flowers 

 with us in June ; and grows in most places in Virginia and 

 New England. The root of this, as well as that of the 

 Common Dragon, is acrimonious and purgative. The whole 

 plant, when fresh, is of an almost insupportably acrid taste, 

 but loses the greatest part of that quality in drying. It was 

 formerly much esteemed for its supposed efficacy in malig- 

 nant fevers, the small-pox, and other disorders ; and was also 

 tupposed to be a noble sudorific and resister of poison, but 



is at present very little regarded. It is difficult to preserve 

 this plant in gardens ; they must have a moist shady situ- 

 ation, or they will not thrive. 



4. Arum Venosum ; Purple-Jlowered Arum. Leaves pe- 

 date, compound ; leaflets suboval, quite entire : lamina lance- 

 olate, longer than the spadix. Native country unknown j it 

 flowers in March. 



5. Arum Pentaphyllum ; Five-leaved Arum. Leaves qui- 

 nate, compound. Native of the East Indies and China. The 

 root is accounted warm, attenuant, and deobstruent, and is 

 given in the epilepsy, convulsions, obstructions of the uterus, 

 bites of venomous animals, and other disorders, in the East. 



6. Arum Tryphyllum; Three-leaved Green-stalked Arum. 

 Leaves ternate ; lamina lanceolate, acuminate, the length of 

 the spadix, without stems ; leaves compound. Grows ten 

 inches high, in Cochin China This and the two following 

 species are propagated by offsets. They will live in a shel- 

 tered situation in the open air, or if the surface of the ground 

 be covered with tan, to keep out the frost in winter ; and 

 they will thrive better in the full ground than in pots. 



7- Arum Atrorubens ; Three-leaved Purple-stalked Arum. 

 Leaves ternate, compound ; lamina ovate, shorter by half 

 than the spadix. Native of Virginia ; flowering with us in 

 June and July : see the sixth species. 



8. Arum Ternatum. Leaves compound, ternate ; recep- 

 tacle longer than the spathe. Found in Japan, flowering in 

 May and June : see the sixth species. 



** Without Stems ; leaves simple. 



9. Arum Colocasia ; Egyptian Arum. Leaves simple, 

 peltate, ovate, repand, semibifid at the base. Native of the 

 Levant, Egypt, Sicily, and Italy, near Salerno, where it is 

 esteemed a wholesome food ; and though not very delicate, 

 is frequently eaten in the East. The roots when young are 

 sometimes eaten raw,the roots and petioles are boiled. This, 

 and the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth . fourteenth, and 

 sixteenth species, are easily propagated by the offsets which 

 they put out plentifully from their roots ; these must be 

 planted in pots filled with light earth, and plunged into a hot- 

 bed, to promote their taking root : and if they be afterward 

 continued in the bark-stove, they will make greater pro- 

 gress, and produce larger leaves. 



10. Arum Bicolorum ; Two-coloured Arum. Leaves pel- 

 tate, sagittate,coloured on the disk ; simple spathe contracted 

 in the middle, subglobularatthe base ; lamina roundish, acu- 

 minate, upright, somewhat convolute. Cultivated in Ma- 

 deira, and flowers in June and July : see the ninth species. 



11. Arum Esculentum ; Esculent Arum, or Indian Kale. 

 Leaves peltate, ovate, quite entire, emarginate at the base ; 

 root large.tuberous. It is very frequent in Chinaand Cochin 

 China, in shallow waters bv the sides of rivers and marshes, 

 and is a common foodthere,the root and tender petioles being 



aten boiled. The bruised leaves are applied to tumors, and 

 imagined to be an antidote for poisonous bites. It is also a 

 native of, and frequently cultivated in, Japan, where the 

 sliced roots and stalks are put into soups and broths. It is 

 Found in the islands of the Southern Ocean ; and is cultivated 

 every whwe^within the tropics, and even in the northern 

 extremity of New Zealand. The natives of the South Sea 



slands bestow great pains on the culture of this root ; for in 

 ;he first months of its growth it succeedsbest when the ground 

 is inundated ; but afterwards it should be laid dry, which they 

 do by means of ditches dug round the fields. The root, 

 which is the common food in many of the islands, is extremely 

 icrid, and when eaten raw will excoriate the mouth,but baked 

 n hot ashes, loses its acrimonious quality, and becomes 

 mild and well tasted ; it is, however, heavy upon a weak 



