Perennial herbs with acrid corms, simple scapes and 1 to 3 slender-petioled divided leaves unfolding with the flowers. Spadix included or exserted, bearing the flowers near its base. Spathe convolute, open or contracted at the throat. Flowers dioecious or monoecious, without any perianth, the staminate of 4 almost sessile 2-4-celled anthers which open by confluent slits at the apex, the pistillate with an ovoid or globose 1-celled ovary containing 1 or many orthotropous ovules; style short or none, stigma peltate-capitate. Fruit a cluster of globose red berries, conspicuous when ripe. Seeds with copious endosperm and an axial embryo. [Greek, referring to the red-blotched leaves of some species.]

About 50 species, mostly natives of temperate and subtropical Asia. Besides the following, 2 other species occur in the Southern States. Type species: Arum nepenthoides Wall.

1. Arisaema Triphyllum (L.) Torr. Jack-Inthe-Pulpit. Indian Turnip

Fig. Nil

Arum triphyllum L. Sp. PI. 965. 1753.

Arisaema atrorubens Blume, Rumphia 1: 97. 1835.

Arisaema triphyllum Torr. Fl. N. Y. 2: 239. 1843.

Leaves 1 or 2, nearly erect, 10'-3° high, usually exceeding the scape, 3-foliolate, the segments ovate, entire, or sometimes lobed, acute rounded or narrowed at the base, 3"-7' long 1 1/2'-3 1/2" wide, sessile or very short-stalked; flowers commonly dioecious, yellow, borne on the basal part of the spadix; spadix 2'-3' long, its naked summit blunt, colored; spathe green, and purple-striped, curving in a broad flap over the top of the spadix, acuminate; filaments very short and thick; ovaries crowded; ovules 5 or 6; berries smooth, shining, about 5" in diameter, forming a dense ovoid head 1'-3' long.

In moist woods and thickets, Nova Scotia to Florida, Ontario, Minnesota, Kansas and Louisiana. Ascends to 5000 ft. in North Carolina. April-June. Fruit ripe June-July. The acrid bulb made edible by boiling. Three-leaved Indian turnip; Marsh, Pepper or Wild turnip. Bog-onion. Brown-dragon. Wake-robin. Starchwort.

2. Arisaema Pusillum (Peck) Nash. Peck's Jack-In-The-Pulpit

Fig. 1112

Arisaema triphyllum pusillum Peck, Rep. N. Y. State Mus. 51: 297. 1898.

Arisaema pusillum Nash; Britton, Man. 229. 1901.

Leaves 2 or sometimes 1, erect, mostly 8'-15' high, 3-foliolate, the segments elliptic, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, entire, mostly dull, acuminate, or sometimes merely acute at the apex, narrowed at the base, 2'-5' long, 3/4'- 13/4 wide, sessile or nearly so; spadix 1'-2' long, the upper portion cylindric; spathe deep brown to black, the lower portion even, the apex short-acuminate; berries shining, 2"-2 1/2" in diameter, forming an ovoid head less than 1' in diameter.

In bogs, New York to Georgia and Kentucky. May-July.

3. Arisaema Stewardsonii Britton. Stewardson Brown's Indian Turnip

Fig. 1113

Arisaema Stewardsonii Britton, Man. Ed. 2, 1057. 1905.

Leaves 2, or 1 in the case of small plants, 1°-2 1/2° high, 3-foliolate, the segments lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, erose-crenulate, shining, acuminate at the apex, narrowed at the base, 1 1/2'-8' long, 1'-3,' wide, sessile or nearly so; spadix 1 1/2-2' long, the upper portion cylin-dric; spathe green or striped, the lower portion fluted, the apex rather long-acuminate; berries shining, 4"-5" in diameter, forming an ovoid head over 1' in diameter.

In wet woods, often among sphagnum, mountains of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Reported from New England. June-Aug.

4. Arisaema Dracontium (L.) Schott. Green Dragon. Dragon-Root

Fig. 1114

Arum Dracontium L. Sp. PI. 964. 1753. Arisaema Dracontium Schott, Melet. 1:17. 1832.

Corms clustered. Leaves usually solitary, 8'-4° long, pedately divided into 5-17 segments, much longer than the scape; segments obovate or oblong, 3'-10' long, 9"-4' wide, abruptly acute at the apex, narrowed to a sessile or nearly sessile base, entire or the lateral ones somewhat lobed; scape sheathed by membranous scales at the base; spathe greenish or whitish, narrowly convolute, acuminate, 1'-2' long, enwrapping the spadix, the upper part of which tapers into a slender appendage exserted 1'-7' beyond its apex; inflorescence of the staminate plant nearly as long as the tubular part of the spathe; in the monoecious plant the pistillate flowers are borne on the lower part of the spadix; ovary turbinate, with 6-8 bottle-shaped ovules; stigmas depressed; berries reddish-orange in large ovoid heads.

Mostly in wet woods and along streams, but sometimes in dry soil, Maine to Ontario and Minnesota, south to Florida, Kansas and Texas. May-June.