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ARUM MACULATUM, 
Common Arum, or Cuckow-pint* 
Class MoN(EClA.-^Or«7er POLYANDRIA. 
Nat. Orel. Piperita, Linn. AROiDEiE, Juss. 
Gen. Char. Spathe 1-leaved, cowled. Corolla 0. Spadix 
naked above. Stamens in the middle. Germens below. 
Spec. Char. Stem none. Leaves radical, hastate, entire. 
Spadix club-shaped. 
This species of Arum is the Apov [j^iya of Hippocrates ; it is a 
perennial indigenous plant, and, as Mr. Curtis very justly remarks 
m his Flora Londinensis, " Botanists who have noticed the history 
of this plant well know that it appears under two very different 
forms in the spring and autumn ; but the generality of people are 
not aware, that the naked cluster of scarlet berries, so conspicuous 
in the hedges at the close of summer, is the produce of what are 
usually called lords and ladies, which attract the notice of children 
m the spring, and which are observable under most shady hedges." 
The root is tuberous, sending forth on every side numerous fibres, 
about the size of a large nutmeg, externally of a brownish colour, 
internally white and fleshy ; the leaves are radical, and stand upon 
long grooved petioles, in number seldom more than three or four 
from each root: they are arrow-shaped, four or five inches long, and 
two or more broad, of a deep shining green, often spotted with 
brown or black ; the flower stem is a simple erect scape, from eight 
to ten inches high, obscurely channelled, and terminated by the 
spathe, which is erect, bellied, pointed above, of a pale green 
colour, frequently spotted, covering the fruit till it is nearly ripe, 
when it withers; the spadix is club-shaped, obtuse, of a deep 
purple or whitish green colour : on the lower part are situated 
root, 
* Plate 1. Fig. a. represents the leaves as they appear in the spring, b. The 
Plate 2. Fig. «. The spathe. b. The spadix. 1 and 2, represent the nectaries. 
3. The anthers. 4. The germens. c. The fruit. 
