— 420 
It is a larger plant, and has the long styles or points of the fruit of So 
simuplea. 
3. S. minimum, Fries. (fig. 943). Small Si—An ace plant ; the 
weak stems ascending to the surface of the water on which the long, 
narrow leaves float. Flower-heads very few, with long, linear bracts ; 
the 2 or 3 lowest ones female, and often shortly stalked. Fruiting heads 
smaller than in the last two species, and the styles or points to the 
fruits very much shorter. 
In lakes and pools, in northern Europe, Asia and America; and in 
the high mountains of southern Europe and central Asia. In Britain, 
more frequent in Scotland than in England; unknown in Ireland. FI. 
summer. [S. minimum is usually regarded as a slender variety of S. 
natans, Linn., with the lower leaf sheaths not inflated, few male flower- 
heads, and obovoid fruits; the true S. natans (S. affine, Schn.) has 
inflated sheaths, several male flower-heads, and spindle-shaped drupes. 
Both are British. ] 
LXXVI. AROIDEA. THE ARUM FAMILY. 
Herbs, with the rootstock often tuberous but not bulbous ; 
the veins of the leaves sometimes branched or even. netted, 
almost as in Dicotyledons. Flowers closely packed in a dense 
spike, called a spadix, with a leaf-like or coloured bract at the 
base, called a spatha. The stamens and ovaries in different 
parts of the spike or mixed together, without any perianth, or 
separated by small scales, which sometimes form a small, regular 
perianth. Ovary with 1 or several cells, each with 1 or more 
ovules. Fruita berry. Seeds rarely without albumen. 
A considerable family, chiefly from the tropical and warmer parts 
of the globe, where many acquire a considerable size, or cimb up the 
stems of trees. The large spatha and broad leaves are at once char- 
acteristic of the majority of species; a few, however, come near to 
Typhacee in habit, but are distinguished usually by their succulent 
fruit, and in most cases by the seeds, or at least the ovules, not solitary. 
Leaves broad. Spatha large . 2 ; : : : : . 1. ARUM. 
Leaves and spatha long and linear. Plant reed-like ; ‘ : . 2. ACORUS. 
I. ARUM. ARUM. 
Spatha large, convolute (the edges rolled over each other) at the base. 
No perianth. Pistils of female flowers at the base of the spike. Stamens 
or male flowers above them ; the club-shaped summit of the axis without 
flowers. Berry with 1 or very few seeds. E 
A genus sometimes limited to a very few species, from Europe and ~ 
temperate Asia. is 
1. A. maculatum, Linn. (fig. 944). Common A., Cuckoo-pint, Wake 
Robin, Lords-and-Ladies. —Rootstock an acrid, white tuber. Leaves on 
long, radical footstalks, ovate-hastate ; the lobes of the base straight 
or shortly diverging, of a dark, shining green, sometimes spotted with — 
purple or marked with pale-whitish veins. Spatha 6 to 8 inches long, 
