MISCELLANEOUS 



ence in color has been thought to indicate the sex of the flowers 

 within the males are said to be shielded by the green, the 

 females by the purple, hoods. In the nearly allied cuckoo-pints 

 of England, matters appear to be reversed : these plants are 

 called " Lords and Ladies" by the children, the purple-tinged 

 ones being the " Lords," the light green ones the "Ladies." 

 The generic name, Ariscema, signifies bloody arum, and refers to 

 the dark purple stains of the spathe. An old legend claims that 

 these were received at the Crucifixion : 



* Beneath the cross it grew ; 

 And in the vase-like hollow of the leaf, 

 Catching from that dread shower of agony 

 A few mysterious drops, transmitted thus 

 Unto the groves and hills their healing stains, 

 A heritage, for storm or vernal shower 

 Never to blow away." 



The Indians were in the habit of boiling the bright scarlet 

 berries which are so conspicuous in our autumn woods and de- 

 vouring them with great relish ; they also discovered that the 

 bulb-like base, or corm, as it is called, lost its acridity on cook- 

 ing, and made nutritious food, winning for the plant its name 

 of Indian turnip. One of its more local titles is memory-root, 

 which it owes to a favorite school-boy trick of tempting others 

 to bite into the blistering corm with results likely to create a 

 memorable impression. 



The English cuckoo -pint yielded a starch which was greatly 

 valued in the time of Elizabethan ruffs, although it proved too 

 blistering to the hands of the washerwomen to remain long in 

 use. Owing to the profusion with which the plant grows in 

 Ireland efforts have been made to utilize it as food in periods of 

 scarcity. By grating the corm into water, and then pouring off 

 the liquid and drying the sediment, it is said that a tasteless, but 

 nutritious, powder can be procured. 



It* 



