ARISASMA TRIPHYLLUM. 
THREE-LEAVED INDIAN TURNIP. 
NATURAL ORDER, ARACE. 
ARISMA TRIPHYLLUM, Torrey.—Leaves mostly two, divided into three elliptical-ovate pointed 
leaflets; spadix mostly dicecious, club-shaped, obtuse, much shorter than the spathe, which 
is flattened and incurved-hooded at the summit. (Gray's Manual of the Botany of the 
Northern United States. See also Chapman’s Flora of the Southern United States, and 
Wood's Class-Book of Botany.) 
HE plants-of this genus were classed with Arum by Lin- 
VERS nzus, and our present species was the drum trtphyt- 
Zum of that great man. Under this name it was known to all 
our botanists up to about thirty years ago. The whole Arum 
family were but imperfectly understood by the older students. 
They saw that all had a certain general resemblance; but in time 
many new genera were founded, and the present one, A77sema, 
was taken from Avram by Martius, a well-known writer in 1831 
on the Flora of Brazil, and confirmed in the year following by 
Schott, a distinguished writer on Aracee. The dates are im- 
portant to the critical student, as in some works Schott is cred- 
ited with the foundation of the genus. It has puzzled botanists 
to know what Martius derived the name of Avisema from. Ac- 
cording to Pliny, 477s was the name of some very bitter plant, | 
and it was sometimes called Avzsaron also. The roots and 
leaves of some European Arums are intensely acrid, and they 
are believed to be the same as are referred to by the ancient 
writers under the same name. <Asisema seems to have no 
meaning that is applicable to our plant. Some German botanists 
believe the name was intended to be written Ariscema. If it 
were Avisema, it would mean “hooded Arum,” and this would 
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