NAT. ORDER. 
Aracece. 
ARUM TRIPHILI.UM. WILD TURNIP— WAKE ROBIN, 
Class XXL MoNCECiA. Order VII. Polyandria. 
Gen. Char. Spathe one-leafed, cowled. Spadix naked above, 
female below, stamineous in the middle. Berry one-celledj 
many-seeded. 
Spe. Char. Stemless. Leaves ternate. LeafieM ovate, acumi- 
nate, entire. Spadix clavate. Spathe ovate, acuminate, convo- 
lute below, flat and bent above. 
The root is perennial, round, flattened, tuberous, with many- 
white fibres around the base ; skin dark, loose, and wrinkled ; the 
leaves are usually three or four, growing from each root ; these 
are arrow-shaped, of a deep green or purplish color, beset with 
many veins and dark spots, and stand upon long grooved, and 
somewhat triangularly shaped footstalks ; the jloiver-stalk is very 
short and channelled ; the calyx is a sheath of one leaf, large, oval, 
nerved, and enclosing the spadix, which is round, club-shaped, 
fleshy, above of a purple color, below whitish, standing in the cen- 
tre of the sheath, and supporting the parts necessary to fructifica- 
tion : on tracing it towards the base we first discover the necta- 
ries, or several oval corpuscles, which are terminated by long, 
tapering points ; next to these are placed the anthers, which art'e 
quadrangular, united, and of a purple color ; under these we find 
again more nectaries ; and lastly the germens, which are very nu- 
merous, round, without styles, and crowned with small bearded 
stigmas. This curious species of inflorescence displays itself 
early in spring, but the berries do not ripen till late in the summer. 
Vol. u.— 35 
