A R U 



A R U 



is an ovate germ ; no style : the stigma beard- 

 ed, with villose hairs : the pericarpium is a glo- 

 bular one-celled berry : the seeds several and 

 roundish. 



The species chiefly cultivated are : 1. A. Ita- 

 Ikum, Italian Arum; 2. A. Arisarum, Broad- 

 leaved Arum, or Friars Cawl ; 3. A. Draama/- 

 lus, Long-sheathed Arum, or Common Dra- 

 gon; 4. A. Dracontium, Short-sheathed Arum, 

 or Green Dragon; 5. A. Colocasia, Egyptian 

 Arum; 6. A. trilobatum, Three-lobed Indian 

 Arum; 1. A. bicolurum, Two-coloured Arum ; 

 8. A. arlorescens, Tree Arum; 9- A. segiunum, 

 Dumb-cane Arum. 



The first, according to Martyn, has the stem 

 five feet high, as thick as the human arm, usu- 

 ally upright: the leaves very large, slightly acu- 

 minate, with many transverse, parallel ribs ; on 

 long, awl-shaped, erect, stem-clasping petioles : 

 the spathes axillary, small, acute, straight and 

 convolute: the spadix awl-shaped, erect; with 

 the female florets inserted at the base : the ber- 

 ries roundish, pale and small. It is a native of 

 the East Indies. 



The second species has the spathe entire 

 above, and bent in a little ; below it is also 

 entire, and not convolute.: the root is oblong 

 and thick; the height about a foot and half: 

 the leaves are sharpish ; spathe shorter than the 

 leaves : the spadix curved, and the berries red, 

 with one seed in each. It is a native of the 

 south of France, &c. 



The third sort has a large, tuberous, fleshy 

 root, which in the spring puts up a straight 

 stalk about three feet high, spotted like the 

 belly of a snake; at the top it spreads out into 

 leaves, which are cut into several narrow seg- 

 ments almost to the bottom : at the top of the 

 stalk the flower is produced, which is in shape 

 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 ap- 

 pearance. It is a native of the southern parts 

 of Europe. 



The fourth species grows about eight or nine 

 inches high : the root is roundish, solid, white 

 within and without, smooth : the leaves are pe- 

 tioled, upright, smaller than those of the fore- 

 going : the leaflets broad -lanceolate, and com- 

 monly in threes : the spadix awl-shaped, slen- 

 der, longer than both spathe and leaves. It is 

 a native of America, and flowers in June. 



The fifth has a tuberous, thick, large, oblong 

 root, rounded at the base : the leaves are thick, 

 smooth, ash-coloured, in form and size resem- 

 bling those of the Water-Lily, having thick 

 ribs running obliquely to the edge : the petioles 



are thick, upright, roundish, whitish, and spread- 

 ing out at bottom : the scape short, with a subu- 

 late, reflex, flat spathe: the spadix subulate, 

 shorter than the spathe. It is a native of the 

 Levant, Sec. 



In the sixth species the root is roundish, 

 compressed, smooth, half an inch in diameter : 

 the plant a foot high, and upright : the leaves cor- 

 date at the base, three-lobed, large, few : the lobes 

 ovate and sharpish : the petioles arc long, angular, 

 striated, widening at the base, and concave : the 

 scape shorter than the leaves : the spathe very 

 wide, flat, acuminate and dusky red : the spadix 

 subsessile, subulate, shorter than the spathe ; 

 with male flowers at the tip, female at the base, 

 and very many long flexuose red hairs in the 

 middle. It is a native of Ceylon, and flowers 

 in May and June. 



The seventh is without stem : the leaves are 

 halbert-shaped, and entire from the root, with 

 the disk coloured, the middle of the sheath nar- 

 rowed, and the lamina erect, pointed, roundish, 

 and almost convolute. Itflowers in June and July. 



The eighth species has an erect jointed stalk, 

 six feet in height, with arrow-shaped leaves in 

 clusters at top ; the flowers coming out between 

 the leaves inlonggreen spathes, close to thestem. 



The ninth has the leaves sometimes punched 

 with holes i it rises to the height of six or seven 

 feet with a green jointed stalk as large as a walk- 

 ing-cane : the leaves are placed irregularly at the 

 top of the stalks, growing in a cluster ; they are 

 oblong, and of a light green colour : from be- 

 tween the leaves the flowers come out on the 

 side of the stalk, having a long spathe of a pale 

 green colour, marked with white spots, sitting 

 close to the stem of the plant : at the first ap- 

 pearance it stands erect, soon after it becomes 

 horizontal, and in a little time declines down- 

 ward : the lower part is swelling so far as the 

 flowers are ranged on the spadix, above which 

 it is greatly contracted, and toward the top en- 

 larges again, where it is a little open, so as to 

 show the naked part of the spadix, but is twist- 

 ed again at the top : all the lower part folds 

 closely over the spadix, so that it is scarcely dis- 

 cernible, unless the spathe be opened ; which can 

 only be .done on one side, the other adhering 

 closely to the spadix, so far upward as the 

 flowers extend the naked part of the spadix only 

 being separated from the spathe ; so that the fe- 

 male flowers and stamina are ranged only on one 

 side of the spadix ; in which it differs from the 

 other species. It is a native of the warm parts 

 of America. 



Culture. — In this genus of plants the propa- 

 gation is mostly effected by means of offsets, or 

 parting the roots, which may be done either in 



