THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
The representatives of the Aracoac or Anini family 
within our limits are well known to botanists. l>ecause of 
the oddity of the flower-clusters, and when we surx ey the 
family as a whole we find that oddity is one of its strong- 
characteristics. Most of the plants are herbs, but there 
are some shrubby species, and the stem forms rang^e all tlie 
way from upright trunks and climbing vines to corms, 
tubers and rhizomes. These latter forms are well illustrat- 
ed by such members of the family as the skunk's cabbage 
(Symplocarpus), Jack-in-the-pul])it { . Irisacnia ) . sweet flag 
(Acorns) and golden club (Oroutiuin) . 
In the climbing species adventitious n^M> are ustially 
produced and these may \ye of two kinds, one for clasping 
the support ; the other for absorption. The absorbing roots 
generally grow downward until they reach the earth, but 
some species have roots with a six>ng}' epidermis, which 
absorbs moisture from the air, like certain orchid roots. 
The leaves, also, present great di\ersity of structure 
and range from long, narrow forms like those of the sweet 
flag to those of the Jack-in-the-pulpit, in which petiole and 
blade are sharply distinguished. In an Old World species 
of Dracontium the plant produces but one leaf a year, but 
this may become fifteen feet long. Curiously enougli, al- 
though this is a monocotyledonous family, the leaves of 
most species are netted instead of parallel veined. In 
various species the leaves and rf>«>tstocks contain minute 
needle-like crystals that penetrate the mouth and throat 
when eaten and cause intense pain. The corm of the Jack- 
in-the-pulpit, called Indian turnip, is a familiar instance of 
this. These cr>-stals are rendered harmless by heat or by 
drying. The Indian tiunip is valued as a cough medicine 
when dried, and the roots of a tropical species of Colocasia, 
or taro, form the chief food supply of a large number of 
people. 
