WOOD AND GARDEN 



Dragon Arum ; and yet how fitting an accompaniment 

 it is to the plant, for if ever there was a plant that 

 looked wicked and repellent, it is this ; and yet, like 

 Medusa, it has its own kind of fearful beauty. In this 

 family the smell seems to accompany the appearance, 

 and to diminish in impleasantness as the flower in- 

 creases in amiability ; for in our native wild Arum the 

 smell, though not exactly nice, is quite innocuous, and 

 in the beautiftd white Arum or Gcdla of our green- 

 houses there is as little scent as a flower can well have, 

 especially one of such large dimensions. In Fungi the 

 bad smell is nearly always an indication of poisonous 

 nature, so that it wOuld seem to be given as a warning. 

 But it has always been a matter of wonder to me why 

 the root of the harmless and friendly Laurustinus 

 should have been given a particularly odious smell — a 

 smell I would rather not attempt to describe. On 

 moist warmish days in mid-seasons I have sometimes 

 had a whiff of the same unpleasantness from the bushes 

 themselves; others of the same tribe have it in a 

 much lesser degree. There is a curious smell about 

 the yellow roots of Berberis, not exactly nasty, and a 

 strong odour, not really offensive, but that I personally 

 dislike, about the root of Chrysanthemum mcadmuvi. On 

 the other hand, I always enjoy digging up, dividing, 

 and replanting the Asarums, both the common Euro- 

 pean and the American kinds ; their roots have a 

 pleasant and most interesting smell, a good deal like 

 mild pepper and ginger mixed, but more strongly 



