404 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



io8. Mountain Spiderwort 



T. Montana is a slender-stemmed, simple, leafy species with 

 long, narrow leaves, whose bases surround the stem with 

 broad, loose sheaths and flowers similar to the preceding. 



In the woods of southern Virginia to Georgia. 



109. Indian Turnip. Jack-in-the-pulpit 



Arisaema triphyllum. — Family, Arum. Co/or, green. Leaves, 

 generally 2,'on long petioles, divided above into3 ovate, pointed, 

 short-stalked, wavy-margined leaflets. Time, April to June. 



The first name is derived from the bulbous root, which is like 

 a miniature turnip. Boiled, this root is rendered edible. The 

 plant is more generally known as a "jack-in-the-pulpit,'' the 

 Jack being a spadix bearing stamens and pistils, without perianth, 

 covered by a single folding leaf — a spathe which overtops the 

 flower with a graceful curve, like the roofed pulpits of some cathe- 

 drals. Our Jack is a welcome preacher, and his text is "Lo! the 

 winter is past ; the flowers appear in the earth." He stands with 

 his fellows in sentinel-like rows along the edges of deep woods 

 or in the lighter-leaved forests. Often the overlapping spathe is 

 prettily striped with purple. The fruit is a gay cluster of scarlet 

 berries, ripe in June or July. 



no. Green Dragon-root 



A. dracbntium is a species in which the Jack grows taller 

 than his pulpit, and the single leaf is divided into 5 to 17 

 leaflets, all springing from a common centre. The leaf, on a 

 long petiole, grows taller than the flower, the divisions being 

 long and narrow. The spadix tapers above into a long, nar- 

 row tip. The spathe, whitish or greenish, is long, narrow, 

 acutely pointed. Staminate and pistillate flowers in different 

 plants. Berries reddish orange, appearing in late summer. 



Both species are found in all the Atlantic States. 



