10 
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
The typical arum flower-cluster might be described as 
a fleshy spike, upon which the flowers are closely sessile, 
the whole surrounded or subtended by a bract or spathe. 
Often the bract is green, but it may be white, yellow, scarlet 
or other colors. Frequently it encloses both flowers and 
spadix. as in the skunk's cabbage; occasionally the tip of 
the spadix projects beyond it, as in the green dragon (Ari- 
saona dracontinm ) ; again, it may be so inconspicuous as to 
seem absent, as in the golden club; while in the sweet flag 
it is so blended with the scape as to appear like an ordinary 
leaf. In an African species the spathe may reach a length 
of six feet. 
The flowers, in keeping with the family's reputation 
for oddity, differ in many ways from the type. They are 
usually three-parted, as monocotyledon flowers should be, 
but some are t\vf>-parted. Some consist only of stamens 
and pistils, while others have a distinct perianth. In some, 
pistils and stamens are borne in the same flower ; in others, 
pistillate and staminate tlowers are in separate regions on 
the same spadix; and in still others, pistillate and staminate 
tlowers are on .separate i>lants. A single species often sh«»ws 
many gradations between these extremes, as for example, 
the Jack-in-the-pulpit. in which one may find all forms 
fn.-m strictly pistillate to completely staminate flowers, the 
best-nourished plants being invariably pistillate. 
In this group the pistils ripen before the stamens and 
the flowers of necessity are pollinated by insects. This is 
also intlicated by the colored spathes and spadixes and the 
strong rxlors various species emit. The fruit is usually a 
berry, bright in color when ripe, and in some cases edible. 
The well-known ceriman ( Monstcra dclic'wsa ) is th.c ripened 
fruit of a climbing si>ecics comnion in ciiltivatii 'n. 
Most of the artuns are plants of tlie marshes and wet 
wtxxllands, and one species, Pistia straiiotcs. the water cab- 
