1872.] 
261 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
:U I - ■ 
Thft Indian Turnip (JrU-md tnply'Uum). 
But few of our wilil-flowrrs arc so likely to 
attract attention the Indian 1 uridji. !l is »a 
unlike mhrti in its form, its coloring is so pecu¬ 
liar. and it has aSUWfctUcr such n strange, Weird 
look, that ttiose who rare but little ttlwut plants 
in general mil bo qv.ite sure to uoijco this. It 
ones, or one or the other kind of flowers may 
be abortive, and thus the plant becomes, as it 
often does, dioecious. The spadix is prolonged 
above the flowers into a smooth club-shaped 
body, which sticks up in the center of the spathe 
and is seen under its incurved point. Some 
imaginative person has seen the resemblance 
between'this arrangement and the old-fashioned 
ing plant, and desirable in a collection of aqua¬ 
tics. Its leaves, usually floating, are of a sin¬ 
gularly beautiful green. These arise from a 
deep root-stock, as do the flower-stalks. The 
Golden-club belongs to the same family (the 
Arums) as does the Indian Turnip described 
elsewhere, hut while in the last-named the spathe 
is the conspicuous part, and quite conceals the 
Indian turnip.— (Arisaima triphyllum.) 
golden-club.—( Orontium aquaticum .) 
is found in rich woods and on the margins of 
swamps, flowering in May and often much later. 
The engraving gives a representation of the 
plant, which varies much in both size and color¬ 
ing. Below the surface we find a solid bulb or 
corm, which is dark-colored without, white 
within, and so much shaped like a turnip as to 
have suggested the common name—Indian 
Turnip. From this corm arise one or two 
leaves, which are divided into three parts or 
leaflets, and a flower-bearing stem. The con¬ 
spicuous hood-shaped body which popularly 
passes for the flower is only a leafy envelope that 
surrounds and protects the flowers. Botanically, 
it is called a spathe , and it is just such an organ 
as we find, though of a different shape, in the 
cultivated and nearly related Calla. The spathe 
in the Calla is pure white, and it has its poiut 
turned back from the center, while in our Indian 
^Turnip it is variously colored, and its point is 
bent inward toward the center. Sometimes 
the spathe is green, with yellowish markings, 
and frequently it is dark purple with whitish or 
yellowish stripes and spots, and the leaf-stalks 
freely marked with purple. To find the flow¬ 
ers we must look inside the spathe, where we 
shall find them clustered at the base of a fleshy 
stem called a spadix. We may find pistillate 
flowers at the base and above these staminate 
pulpit with soundiug-board, and has given the 
plant the fanciful name of Jack-in-the-Pulpit, a 
name quite popular in some localities. 
The fleshy corm, or root as it is popularly 
called, is when fresh extremely acrid. A small 
piece placed on the tongue produces the same 
sensation as scalding. Mischievous people 
sometimes play tricks with it, and its great 
acridity has led to its use in domestic medicine. 
The pungent principle is destroyed by heat and 
dissipated by drying. The corm contains a 
large amount of starch of very fine quality. 
The starch is separated by grating the tuber and 
washing, and is nearly equal in quality to arrow¬ 
root. Another species, called the Greeu Dragon 
(Ariscema Dracontium), is less common. It has 
its leaves divided into seven to eleven parts, 
and the point of the spathe is erect. This is 
less common than the other. 
- - -—o- i — » -- 
The Golden-Club (Orontium aquaticum). 
The Golden-club is very common in the South¬ 
ern States, and is found here and there as far 
north as Massachusetts. Mr.Hallock, of the firm 
of C. L. Allen & Co., florists, Brooklyn, recently 
brought us a fine lot of specimens from near 
Flushing. It is a very handsome and interest- 
spadix which bears the flowers, in the Golden- 
club the spathe is small and at the lower part of 
the stem, while the spadix is quite showy. In 
the reduced engraving we give the leaves and 
the spadices; the spathe, being small and sub¬ 
merged, is not shown. Here the flowers are all 
perfect, and so crowded all over the spadix that 
they appear like a solid mass. They are of 
the brightest golden-yellow color. The stem 
just below the flowers is pure white, aud the 
contrast between the white and deep yellow 
makes the plant quite showy. The root-stalks 
are starchy, and are said to have formed when 
roasted a part of the food of the Southern Indians. 
m it • rn u n & rm i —-— 
Insects in Relation to Horticulture. 
That insects frequent flowers is a matter of 
common observation. Not only do bees of 
various kinds and tlie large moths go to the 
flowers to feed upon their sweet juices, but mul¬ 
titudes of small insects that escape ordinary 
notice are engaged in the same occupation. 
The horticulturist sees his plants bloom, aud he 
expects them to bear fruit and seed, with but 
little thought that the success of his crops often 
depends upon insects. We have so much to 
say about the injury done by insects that it is 
