kind of Yam, a common article of food in tropical regions.
Several of the genera are among our native plants.
A rum. L. 19. 1.
Spathe 1-leafed, rolled in at the base, turned over the flower-
stem or spadix, which is naked at its extremity, while the ovaries
are at its base, and the stamens above them ; berry 1-celled.
Latin form of the Greek name for this plant. Thé genus be-
longs chiefly to hot climates ; roots hot, acrid, fleshy, some of
them eatable; a singular, and somewhat beautiful genus.
A. triphyllum. L. Wild or Indian Turnip. Wake Robin,
of the English. This plant grows in very different situations, in
the alluvial soil of rivers and in damp upland woods, and sometimes
in rather wet places. It attracts attention from its singular
form, sending up from its short stem 1 or 2 stalks, each bearing
3 long and acutish leafets, becoming glaucous or sea-green. Its
dense mass of insignificant flowers is concealed by a cylindric
spathe, or inclosing leaf, which terminates in a large, hood-like
leaf, turned down and over the flowers, and often beautifully
variegated. A club-like projection extends beyond the flowers,
as it were to remove the hood at such a distance from the flowers
as to afford them room and free circulation of air with protection.
It flowers in May, and in August it shows a dense head of red
berries. Root fleshy, bulbous, and the dark wrinkled skin on the
under side of the root is its natural, and not diseased.form. The
acrid quality of this plant is-even violent, and extends to all parts of
i t ; by drying, roasting, or boiling, it loses this property to a
considerable extent. The dried root is in popular use, being
grated and taken as grateful and warming to the stomach, and
tending to allay a feverish disposition. Boiled in milk the roots
are a popular, but not very sure, remedy for consumption. Bigelow’s
“ Medical Botany.”
A. atrorubens. L. A smaller, and somewhat fetid plant;
probably only a variety of the preceding.
A. dracontium. L. Green Dragon. Seems not to be a
native of New England ; cultivated at Deerfield.
A. Virginicum. L. Rare in the western part of this State;
found in Belchertown. This plant has received several names,
and is very likely to be carried to the genus C aladium, as described
by Persoon ; swamps, and borders of ponds ; sending up
several radical leaves a foot high, so as to have the appearance of
one species of Sagittaria, Arrowhead ; but from this, Dr. Bigelow
distinguishes it by easy characters. By Cooper it was
named Lecontia Virginica.
O rontium. L. 6. 1.
Crowded flowers in a cylindric spathe ; perianth 6-petalled,
naked ; style and stigma scarcely any ; utricle 1-seeded.
From the Greek name of an unknown plant; only one species
in North America, and one in Japan.
O. aquaticum. L. Golden Club. Floating Arum. Its
dense yellow flowers give one English name ; scape or stem long,
cylindric, rising from ponds or streams, producing flowers of
offensive odor; leaves radical, large, lanceolate-ovate; May.
“ Southwick, Dr. Porter.”
P othos. Mx. 4. 1.
Derived from the native name of the plant in Ceylon ; the
genus seems generally to be different from the only plant of
the name in North America. Hence the latter was named Sym-
plocarpus, Salsb., and has also passed under other names. Spathe
ventricose, twisted.
P. fcetida. Mx. Skunk-cabbage. The particular name indicates
a prominent property of the plant so well known, and common in
wet, low grounds, as an offensive weed throughout the country.
Early in March its thick and fleshy roots send up a roundish head
of small flowers, enclosed in a thick and twisted envelope or
spathe of a purple color, only a few inches long, and opening by
a natural seam or suture. In three or four weeks, the leaves appear
lising on short foot-stalks from the root, and become very
large, like cabbage leaves, giving, as well as the rest of the plant
when bruised, the offensive odor. The roots and seeds are