420 THE ARUM FAMILY. 
almost as in Dicotyledons. Flowers closely packed in a dense 
spike, called a spadzx, with a leaf-like or coloured bract at the 
base, called a spatha. The stamens and ovaries either in dif- 
ferent parts of the spike or mixed together, without any peri- 
anth, 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 with or rarely without 
albumen. 
A considerable family, chiefly from the tropical and warmer parts of the 
globe, where many-acquire a considerable size, or climb up the stems of 
trees. The large spatha and broad leaves are at once characteristic of the 
majority of species; a few however come near to Zyphacee 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. Spathalarge . : : ’ d ‘ d ; . 1. Anum. 
Leaves and spatha long and linear. Plantreed-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. 
A genus sometimes limited toa very few species, from Europe and tempe- 
rate Asia, sometimes extended so as to comprehend a large portion of the 
Aroidee@ of the northern hemisphere without the tropies. 
1. A. maculatum, Linn. (fig. 942). Common Arum, 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, 
obliquely campanulate, tapering to a point at the top, the convolute part 
contracted above the base. Spike half concealed in the spatha, the club- 
shaped yellow or purplish top alone appearing above the convolute part. 
Berries bright red, in a short spike, on a naked peduncle, the leaves and 
spatha having died away before they are ripe. } 
In woods and thickets, under hedges, etc., chiefly in central Europe, from 
northern Italy and Spain to southern Scandinavia. Frequent in England 
and Ireland, doubtfully wild in Scotland. Fl. spring. [The closely allied 
A. italicum, Miller, which occurs in several places on the south coast of 
England, differs in its greater size, longer spathe, yellow spadix, larger 
berries, and in the leaves appearing in winter. | 
Il. ACORUS. ACORUS. 
A single species, distinguished as a genus by the leaf-like spatha not 
enclosing the spike, and by the numerous hermaphrodite flowers consisting 
of a periauth of 6 short scales, 6 stamens, and a 2- or 3-celled ovary, all 
closely packed in a dense, cylindrical spike. : 
A, Calamus, Linn. (fig. 943). Sweet Acorus, Sweet Flag, Sweet 
a ee 
