ORDER 131. ARACE^E. 669 



8 12' long, \ as wide, on petioles as long as the scapes. Scapes many from the 

 same root, 8 15' long. Spathe closely involving the spadix, green, 3 to 5' long, 

 lanceolate, wavy on the margin. Spadix slender, acuminate, shorter than the 

 spathe, its compact stamens 6-sided. Fr. a cluster of green berries inclosed in 

 the base of the spathe after the upper part of both spathe and spadix has decayed. 

 Jn. (Arum, L. Calla, Bw. Lecontia, Cooper, Renssekeria, Beck, Caladium, 

 Lindl.) 



2 P. glaiica Feay (M S.). Acaulescent ; Ivs. ovate-hastate, acute or short-acu- 

 minate, lobes broad and obtuse at end ; scape as long as the leaves ; spathe invol- 

 ute, entire, gradually evolved and widened above, acuminate, while, spadix much 

 shorter; berries red, 1 -seeded. Maritime parts of S. Car. and Ga. (Feay, Pond.) 

 A smooth, glaucous plant with 1 to 3 radical Ivs., and one or more slender scapes 

 12 to 20' high. Lvs. 5 to 7' long, with large base lobes, aud a vein running 

 close to the margin. Spathe about 3' long, spadix about 2'. Fruit smaller than 

 in No. 1. Seeds without albumen, as in that species. May, Jn. (Caladium 

 glaucum Ell.) 



3. RICHAR'DIA, Kth. EGYPTIAN CALLA. Spathe involute at base, 

 spreading, marescent ; spadix covered with flowers, fertile below, stam- 

 inate above ; anthers GO, free, sessile, 2-celled, on a broad connectile ; 

 ovaries incompletely 3-celled, intermixed with sterile filaments ; berry 

 few-seeded, seeds suspended. It Herb with a thick rhizome, tall, erect, 

 radical leaf-stalks, and scapes with a large, white spathe. 



R. JEthiopica. A fine, showy plant of the green-house and parlors. Lvs. 

 2 to 4f high, hastate-cordate, thick, smooth, on sheathing petioles. Scape rather 

 taller, bearing a cylindric spadix within the large, involved, milk-white spathe. 

 f Cape Good Hope. 



4. CAl'LA, L. (Probably altered from A:aA,6o, beautiful.) Spathe 

 ovate, spreading, persistent, colored ; spadix covered with flowers with 

 no perianth ; filaments slender, with 2-celled anthers, encircling each 

 ovary; ovary 1 -celled, 5 or 6-ovuled, the upper often abortive; berry 

 red, depressed, few-seeded. 2 An aquatic herb with a prostrate, 

 creeping rhizome, cordate Ivs. and a broad white, open spathe. 



C. palustris L. An interesting plant in shallow waters, Penn. to N. Eng., "Wis. 

 and Brit. Am. Lvs. 2 to 3' long, nearly as wide, cuspidate, long-petioled, smooth 

 and entire. Scapo thick, 4 to 6' high. Spathe clasping at the base, recurved, 

 with a twisted cusp, much longer than the oblong, cylindric spadix. Jl. Tho 

 rhizome is acrid, but Linuseus tells us that the Laplanders extract a wholesome 

 breadstuff from it. 



5. SYMPLOCAR'PUS, Salisb. (Gr. avfiTT^oici'^ connection, Kaprrog, 

 fruit.) Spathe shell-form, ventricous ; spadix oval, covered with perfect 

 flowers ; perianth deeply 4-parted, segments cucullate, cuneate, trun- 

 cate, persistent, becoming thick and spongy ; berries globous, 1-seeded, 

 imbedded in the spadix, and with the fleshy perianth forming a kind 

 of sorosis 5 seed without albumen. 2 Aquatic, acaulescent herbs. 



S. foetidus Nutt. SKUNK CABBAGE. Lvs. cordate-oval, acute ; spadix subglob- 

 ous, preceding the leaves. A common plant, Can., N. Eng., Hid. and W. States, 

 growing in swamps, meadows and ditches, renowned for its odor, which is 

 scarcely less offensive than that of the animal whose name it bears. Early iu 

 spring, the swelling spathe is seen emerging first from the ground or water, moro 

 or less covered with purplish spots, its edges partly infolded, and its point in- 

 curved. It incloses the spadix, which is oval, covered with flowers of a dull 

 purple. The leaves, which arise after the flowers, are of a bright green, 

 numerous, becoming very large (often 20' by 12'). (Pothos foetida MX. Ictodes, 

 Bw.) 



