18 



ARUM FAMILY (Araceae) 



JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT {Arisaema triphyllum [L.] Torr.) 



Plate VI, 



Common Names : The Jack-in-the-Pulpit is also known as the Indian- 

 turnip, three-leaved arum, dragon-turnip, devil's ear, bog-onion, and 

 starch-wort. 



Description: It is a perennial plant from eight inches to three feet 

 high. It usually bears two leaves, sometimes only one. Each leaf has 

 three leaflets, oval, pointed, smooth, entire or sometimes waved at the 

 margins. The so-called ''flower" is not only one flower, but is made up 

 of a number of very small flowers arranged around a central axis (spadix) 

 surrounded by a large, sheathing, coloured bract called the spathe. The 

 spadix is popularly known as the ''Jack" and the spathe forms his "pulpit." 

 The spathe is pale green, striped with reddish-brown or purple, and is bent 

 over at the top. The spadix is also green and purple, rounded at the top 

 and narrowed at the base, where it is surrounded by the small flowers. In 

 the autumn, the bright scarlet bunch of berries, with the withered spadix 

 and spathe still attached, is quite as conspicuous as the Jack is in the 

 early summer. The underground portion of the plant consists of a round, 

 wrinkled, greyish-brown starchy corm, with a number of rootlets from 

 the upper surface. It is found in bloom in the spring and early summer. 



Distribution: Jack-in-the-Pulpit is very common in low, rich woods 

 throughout Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario. It is a 

 native of Canada. 



Poisonous Properties: The plant contains acrid properties. The 

 corm is very poisonous. It is held that the acridity disappears with 

 roasting or boiling. No doubt it was used by the Indians, but it is safer 

 for the white man not to try experiments. Pammel says the corm of the 

 Indian-turnip is so extremely acrid that a decoction made from it has 

 been used to kill insects. 



Green-Dragon {Arisaema Dracontium [L.] Bchott.) Arum Family. 



The green-dragon is a near relative of Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and posesses 

 similar acrid qualities. It may be distinguished by its solitary leaf, which 

 is characteristically cut into seven to eleven oblong pointed leaflets, and 

 by its long tapering spadix and pointed green spathe. It is found on low 

 grounds in Ontario. It flowers in June. 



