THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
divided into from five to seven leaflets, would quickly sep- 
arate it from the trifoliate leaves of Jack-in-the-pulpit. 
Although the inflorescences of this family are well 
known to consist of pistils and stamens seated on a thick 
stalk or spadix and the whole subtended by a bract or 
spathe, it is customary to speak of the whole flower-cluster 
as a single flower. In this sense the flower-clusters of the 
wild calla (Calla palustris) come nearest to deserving the 
name. The spathes are whitish, flat or spoon-shaped, and 
are fairly like those of the cultivated calla, which, by the 
way, is not a Calla, though it does belong to the arum fam- 
ily. The leaves also resemble the cultivated plant. The 
wild calla delights in the more watery parts of open swamps, 
where it may spread out its spathes to the sun. It is nearly 
always to be met with in suitable situations and is found in 
Northern Europe and Asia also. 
The sweet flag, or calamus root (Acorits calamus), is 
another product of wild nature which is considered desir- 
able treasure by school-boys, but it may be doubted if in dig- 
ging it up its relationship to the Indian turnip ever occurs 
to them, though its warm, aromatic flavor might give them 
a hint. It is the most un-arum-like of its race, with long, 
narrow leaves like those of the cat-tail or the blue-flag. In- 
deed, the common name of sweet flag seems to have been 
given our species to distinguish it in the popular mind from 
all other flag-like plants. Its flowers are seldom seen, 
though they are not rare, because the>' are colored exactly 
like the leaves; or, if seen, they are not recognized because 
so little like flowers. There is no spathe, at least nothing 
at first glance that looks like one, and the cluster of flowers, 
like a stiff, green cone, seems to spring from the side of 
one of the leaves, about midway from base to tip. A closer 
look, however, convinces us that this leaf-like affair is really 
a spathe, which is continued be\^ond the flower-cluster. 
