MONOCOTYLEDONOUS OR ENDOGENOUS PLANTS. 523 



1-few-seeded scarlet berry ; embryo in the axis of mealy 

 albumen ; root tuberous ; 2^6tioIes of the commonly divided 

 and veiny leaves elongated and sheathing the scape ; fruit' 

 clusters naked. 



A. Dracontium, Schott. {Dragon-root.) Xe«/ solitary, 

 pedately 9-13-foliolate ; leaflets petioled, entire, lanceolate 

 or oblong, acuminate ; spathe tubular (green), concave and 

 erect above, much shorter than the very slender spadix. 

 (Arum Dracontium, L.) Kicli woods. March and April. 

 — Plant l°-lj°high; 5emc5 numerous on the flat rachis, 

 1-3-seeded. 



PELTANDRA, Raf. Arrow Arum. 



Spathe elongated, fleshy, convolute throughout, wavy on 

 the margins, curved at the apex, persistent at the base ; 

 spadix long, wholly covered by the monoecious flowers ; 

 calyx and corolla none ; antUer-CQ\\^ 5-6, imbedded in the 

 thick peltate connective, opening by a terminal pore ; 

 ovary 1-celled, with several orthotropous ovules; herry 

 1-3-seeded; seed gelatinous, without albumen; emiryo 

 large; plumule conspicuous, curved. — A fleshy stemless 

 marsh herh, from a creeping rhizoma; leaves sagittate, with 

 the petiole sheathing the base of the thick scape; fruit- 

 clusters inclosed in the fleshy persistent base of the spathe. 



P. ViRGiNiCA, Raf. Leaves several, oblong, acute, finely 

 veined, and with 2-3 intramarginal nerves, the lobes ob- 

 tuse ; scapes shorter than the leaves recurved in fruit ; 

 spathe lanceolate, acute, longer than the cylindrical spadix, 

 both early decaying above the fertile flowers ; herries green, 

 in a globose cluster, 1-seeded. (Arum Virginicum, L.) 

 Marshes and wet places. April and May. — Plant 1° high ; 

 spathes 2-4' long. 



PISTIA, L. 



Spathe tubular at the base, spreading above, united with 

 the spadix ; floivers few, monoecious, the upper ones stami- 



