A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 131. MAY ]3th, 1882. Vol. 3. 



THE CUCKOO-PINT 



f Arum maculoMm) . 

 By J. P. SoUTTER, Bishop Auckland. 



IN the whole range of the British 

 Flora there is no more singularly 

 curious and interesting plant than the 

 Arum, — whether we look at the strange 

 and fantastic sliape of the flowers, the 

 complexity of its strueturc, or the ab- 

 normal character of its functions. In 

 England the Arum is so abundant in 

 every shady lane and dry open wood, 

 that it is familiar to every schoolboy, 

 under its popular name of lords and 

 ladies.'' It is, however, very rare in 

 Scotland, so much so that I only once 

 saw it growing north of the Tweed, 

 and oven then doubtfully indigenous. 

 The white, hard, solid corm, as big as 

 a pigeon's egg, is buried deep in the 

 soil, and serves as a store house of 

 reserve food for the plant. It throws 

 out numerous thread-like roots which 

 absorb the initriment from the soil, 

 the raw material which is elaborated 

 or manufactured info the peculiar 

 secretions of the i)lant and then stored 

 away as reserve supi)lies, exaetly as in 



the corms of the crocus, or tlic bulbs 

 of the lilies, hyacinths, and tulips, 

 which simply differ in being scaley and 

 not solid ; the tuber, the edible part 

 of the potato, is exactly analogous. 

 All these lie dormant for a certain part 

 of the year, when they can be taken 

 and stored away the same as seeds, 

 and ready under suitable conditions to 

 start into renewed activity. In the 

 Arum the new corm is produced at 

 the side of the old one ; hence, it is 

 removed by at least the breadth of 

 itself into fresh earth : a provision of 

 nature to ensure that the newly formed 

 roots shall have unexhausted soil to 

 burrow in, and also to aid in the dis- 

 persion of the plant over a wider area. 

 A similar end is attained by the creep- 

 ing stems of various plants, as in the 

 well-known strawberry. The leaves of 

 the Arum appear very early in spring, 

 in mild wintiM-s, such as tlie present, 

 they may be seen peeping through the 

 soil in January. They i)ush through 

 the earth euriously rolled uj) like a 

 eigar, botanically called convolute. 

 If at this period the whole plant is care- 

 fully dug up, and the bujulK's of leaves 



