363 



Ovar 



ARUM FAMILY. 

 3. CALLA L,. Sp. PI. 968. 17 



A bog herb with slender acrid rootstocks, broadly ovate or nearly orbicular 

 leaves, and a large white persistent spathe. Spathe ovate-lanceolate or "elliptic, 

 open. Spadix cylindric, much shorter than the spathe. densely c. 

 Flowers perfect or the very uppermost staminate; perianth none. Stamen* 

 meuts linear, longer than the anthers; anther-sacs divaricate, opening by 

 ovoid, i-celled; style very short; stigma small, flat, circular.' Ovule* 6-0, 

 Berries obconic, depressed. Seeds hard, smooth, oblong, striate toward the nncwp 

 pitted at the other end. Endosperm copious. [An ancient name, taken from Pliny 



A monotypic genus of the cooler portions of 

 the north temperate zone. 



Calla palustris L. Water Arum. 

 - (Fig. 880.) 



lla palitslris L. Sp. PI. 968. 1753. 



Petioles 4 / -8 / long, spreading or ascending. 

 Blades thick, entire, i^'-4' wide, cuspidate or 

 abruptly acute at the apex, deeply cordate at 

 the base; scape as long as the petioles, sheathed 

 at the base; rootstocks covered with sheathing 

 scales and with fibrous roots at the nodes; 

 spathe i / -2^ / long and about i' wide, with an 

 abruptly acuminate involute apex; spadix 

 about \' long; berries red, distinct, few-seeded, 

 forming a large head when mature. 



In bogs, Nova Scotia to Minnesota, south to Vir- 

 ginia, Wisconsin and Iowa. Also in Europe and 

 May-June. Fruit ripe July-Aug. 



4. SPATHYEMA Raf. Med. Rep. (II.) 5. 352. 1808. 



[SYMPLOCARPUS Salisb.; Nutt Gen. i: 105. 1818.] 



A fetid herb, with large ovate cordate leaves, thick straight rootstocks and short erect 

 partly underground scape. Spathe swollen, shell-like, thick, pointed, compl< 

 the spadix. Spadix globose or oblong, short-stalked, entirely covered by the perfect 

 Perianth of 4 hooded sepals. Filaments slightly dilated; anthers 2-celled. short. extrooc. 

 opening longitudinally. Ovary nearly buried in the tissue of the spadix, I -celled with a soli- 

 tary suspended anatropous ovule. Style pyramidal, 4-sided, thick, elongated; stigma minate. 

 Berries immersed in the spongy axis of the spadix, becoming adnate to the succulent 

 anth in ripening, i-seeded, forming large heads. Seeds large. Embryo large, fleshy; endo- 

 sperm none. [Greek, referring to the spathe.] 



A monotypic genus of eastern North America and northeastern Asia. 



i. Spathyema foetida (I,.) Raf. Skunk Cabbage. 



Dracontium foetidtim I. Sj> 1'! i/: 



Spathyema foetida Raf. M. 



Symplocarpus foflidus NuttC.cn i 106. 181*. 



Leaves numerous, in large crown*. l e -j* loaf, often 

 i wide, strongly nerved, abruptly acute at th 

 thin, entire, their petioles deeply channeled. Root- 

 stock thick, descending, terminating in whorls of 

 fleshy fibers; spathe preceding the leave*, erect 

 high, i '-3' in diameter at the base, conrolntr 

 purple-brown to greenish yellow, often mott: 

 short scape usually subterranean, spadix about I 

 diameter in flower, greatly enlarging and umiliBM 

 6' in diameter in fruit: mature seed* 4"- 



In swamps an ! Scotia to <***>** 



Minnesota, south to Flonda and 

 Fruit ripe Aug. -Sept. 



