THE WILD ARUM 49 



The wild arum, or cuckoo-pint, should certainly 

 find a shady corner prepared for it, as it is a very 

 quaint and picturesque thing. Its arum-like spathe 

 may be found nestling in early Spring in the under- 

 growth of the hedgerow. The leaves appear later ; 

 they are arrow-headed in shape and of a very glossy 

 surface, and after these in turn have gone, we get 

 a stem some five inches long bearing a cluster of 

 scarlet berries. We have thus three very marked 

 states, and all of them attractive. Every part of 

 the plant is acrid and pungent, so that the mere 

 application of the leaves to a delicate skin will 

 inflame and irritate it. The roots are still more 

 powerfully irritant, producing a burning in the 

 throat that lasts for some hours. It is curious that 

 this pungency is almost lost when the roots are 

 dried, and deleterious as they are in their raw state, 

 all their evil qualities are entirely dissipated by either 

 baking or boiling them. The roots were at one 

 time an article of food under the name of Portland 

 arrowroot ; but now that half a dozen foreign sub- 

 stitutes, and most of them probably considerably 

 more nourishing, can be procured with the minimum 

 of trouble, only very conservative folk would collect 

 and prepare the home-grown root in preference. 

 A distilled water was formerly prepared from the 

 plant, that was for a while held in high repute as a 

 cosmetic. In its fresh state it is a plant to be 

 treated with considerable caution. Many cases are 



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