The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Part 175

Var. fluitans, Engelm. Floating in deep water, with long slender stems and flat narrow leaves; inflorescence usually short, sparingly branched; style stout with a short oval stigma; fruiting heads 4--6" broad; nutlets dark, as large as in the type. (S. androcladum, var. fluctuans, _Morong._; not S. fluitans, _Fries._)--Ponds, Penn., W. Conn., White Mts., N. Minn., and northward.

3. S. minimum, Fries. _Usually floating, with very slender stems and thin flat narrow leaves_; fertile heads 1 or 2, axillary, sessile or peduncled (4--5" wide); stigma oval, about as long as the short style, scarcely surpa.s.sing the oval or obovate denticulate scales; _fruit oblong-obovate_ (1--2" long), pointed, somewhat triangular, the stipe very short or none.--N. Eng. to Penn., N. Ind., Minn., north and westward.--Stems 3--6' high when growing out of water, much longer when submerged. (Eu.)

ORDER 123. ARaCEae. (ARUM FAMILY.)

_Plants with acrid or pungent juice, simple or compound often veiny leaves, and flowers crowded on a spadix, which is usually surrounded by a spathe._--Floral envelopes none, or of 4--6 sepals. Fruit usually a berry. Seeds with fleshy alb.u.men, or none, but filled with the large fleshy embryo. A large family, chiefly tropical. Herbage abounding in slender rhaphides.--The genuine Araceae have no floral envelopes, and are almost all moncious or dicious; but the genera of the second section, with more highly developed flowers, are not to be separated.

[*] Spathe surrounding or subtending the spadix; flowers naked, i.e.

without perianth.

1. Arisaema. Flowers moncious or dicious, covering only the base of the spadix.

2. Peltandra. Flowers moncious, covering the spadix; anthers above, ovaries below.

3. Calla. Flowers perfect (at least the lower ones), covering the whole of the short spadix. Spathe open and spreading.

[*][*] Spathe surrounding the spadix in n. 4, none or imperfect in the rest; flowers with a calyx or perianth and perfect, covering the whole spadix.

4. Symplocarpus. Spadix globular, in a fleshy sh.e.l.l-shaped spathe.

Stemless.

5. Orontium. Spadix narrow, naked, terminating the terete scape.

6. Acorus. Spadix cylindrical, borne on the side of a leaf-like scape.

1. ARISae'MA, Martius. INDIAN TURNIP. DRAGON ARUM.

Spathe convolute below and mostly arched above. Flowers moncious or by abortion dicious, covering only the base of the spadix, which is elongated and naked above. Floral envelopes none. Sterile flowers above the fertile, each of a cl.u.s.ter of almost sessile 2--4-celled anthers, opening by pores or c.h.i.n.ks at the top. Fertile flowers consisting each of a 1-celled ovary, tipped with a depressed stigma, and containing 5 or 6 orthotropous ovules erect from the base of the cell; in fruit a 1--few-seeded scarlet berry. Embryo in the axis of alb.u.men.--Low perennial herbs, with a tuberous rootstock or corm, sending up a simple scape sheathed with the petioles of the simple or compound veiny leaves.

(Name from ????, a kind of _arum_, and a?a, _blood_, from the spotted leaves of some species.)

1. A. triphllum, Torr. (INDIAN TURNIP.) _Leaves mostly 2, divided into 3 elliptical-ovate pointed leaflets; spadix mostly dicious, club-shaped_, obtuse, much shorter than the spathe, which is flattened and incurved-hooded at the ovate-lanceolate, pointed summit.--Rich woods, N. Scotia to Fla., west to Minn. and E. Kan. May.--Corm turnip-shaped, wrinkled, farinaceous, with an intensely acrid juice; spathe with the petioles and sheaths green, or often variegated with dark purple and whitish stripes or spots.

2. A. Dracontium, Schott. (GREEN DRAGON. DRAGON-ROOT.) _Leaf usually solitary, pedately divided_ into 7--11 oblong-lanceolate pointed leaflets; _spadix often androgynous, tapering to a long and slender point_ beyond the oblong and convolute pointed greenish spathe.--Low grounds, N. Eng. to Fla., west to Minn., E. Kan., and Tex. June.--Corms cl.u.s.tered; petiole 1--2 long, much longer than the peduncle.

2. PELTaNDRA, Raf. ARROW ARUM.

Spathe elongated, convolute throughout or with a dilated blade above.

Flowers moncious, thickly covering the long and tapering spadix throughout (or only its apex naked). Floral envelopes none. Anthers sessile, naked, covering all the upper part of the spadix, each of 5 or 6 cells imbedded in the margin of a thick and shield-shaped connective, opening by a terminal pore. Ovaries at the base of the spadix, each surrounded by 4--5 staminodia connate into a cup, 1-celled, bearing 1--few amphitropous or nearly orthotropous ovules at the base; stigma almost sessile. Fruit a leathery or fleshy berry, 1--3-seeded. Seed obovate, surrounded by a tenacious jelly, the base empty, the upper part filled with a large and fleshy spherical embryo; no alb.u.men.--Stemless herbs, with arrow-shaped leaves and simple scapes from a thick-fibrous or subtuberous root. Fruit in a globose cl.u.s.ter, enclosed by the persistent fleshy base of the spathe. (Name from p??t?, _a target_, and ????, for _stamen_, from the shape of the latter.)

1. P. undulata, Raf. Root of thick tufted fibres; scape 1--1 high, about equalling the leaves; basal lobes of the leaves rather long and often acutish; spathe convolute throughout, wavy on the margin, mostly green, 4--7' long; sterile portion of the spadix several times longer than the pistillate; ovules several; fruit green; seeds 1--3. (P.

Virginica, _Kunth_, and most authors.)--Shallow water, New Eng. to Fla., west to Mich. and Ind. June.

2. P. alba, Raf. Rootstock tuberous, covered with thick-fleshy roots and propagating by offshoots; lobes of the leaves mostly short and broad, obtuse; spathe 3--4' long, the blade broader, ac.u.minate, somewhat expanded, white; sterile part of the spadix scarcely longer than the pistillate; ovules and seeds solitary; berry scarlet, 5--6" long. (P.

Virginica, _Schott._ Xanthosoma sagittifolia, _Chapm._, not _Schott._ Caladium glauc.u.m, _Ell._ Arum Virginic.u.m, _L._, in part?)--Marshes, S.

Va.(?) and N. C. to Fla.

3. CaLLA, L. WATER ARUM.

Spathe open and spreading, ovate (abruptly pointed, the upper surface white), persistent. Spadix oblong, entirely covered with flowers; the lower perfect and 6-androus; the upper often of stamens only. Floral envelopes none. Filaments slender; anthers 2-celled, opening lengthwise.

Ovary 1-celled, with 5--9 erect anatropous ovules; stigma almost sessile. Berries (red) distinct, few-seeded. Seeds with a conspicuous rhaphe and an embryo nearly the length of the hard alb.u.men.--A low perennial herb, growing in cold bogs, with a long creeping rootstock, bearing heart-shaped long-petioled leaves, and solitary scapes. (An ancient name, of unknown meaning.)

1. C. pal.u.s.tris, L.--Cold bogs, N. Scotia to N. J., west to Mich. and Minn., and northward. June.--Seeds surrounded with jelly. (Eu.)

4. SYMPLOCaRPUS, Salisb. SKUNK CABBAGE.

Spathe hooded-sh.e.l.l-form, pointed, very thick and fleshy, decaying in fruit. Spadix globular, short-stalked, entirely and densely covered with perfect flowers, their 1-celled or abortively 2-celled ovaries immersed in the fleshy receptacle. Sepals 4, hooded. Stamens 4, opposite the sepals, with at length rather slender filaments; anthers extrorse, 2-celled, opening lengthwise. Style 4-angled and awl-shaped; stigma small. Ovule solitary, suspended, anatropous. Fruit a globular or oval ma.s.s, composed of the enlarged and spongy spadix, enclosing the spherical seeds just beneath the surface, which is roughened with the persistent fleshy sepals and pyramidal styles. Seeds filled by the large globular and fleshy corm-like embryo, which bears one or several plumules at the end next the base of the ovary; alb.u.men none.--Perennial herb, with a strong odor like that of the skunk, and also somewhat alliaceous; a very thick rootstock, bearing a mult.i.tude of long and coa.r.s.e fibrous roots, and a cl.u.s.ter of very large and broad entire veiny leaves, preceded in earliest spring by the nearly sessile spathes, which barely rise out of the ground. (Name from s?p????, _connection_, and ?a?p??, _fruit_, in allusion to the coalescence of the ovaries into a compound fruit.)

1. S. f'tidus, Salisb. Leaves ovate, cordate, becoming 1--2 long, short-petioled; spathe spotted and striped with purple and yellowish-green, ovate, incurved; fruit (in autumn) 2--3' in diam., in decay shedding the bulblet-like seeds, which are 4--6" long.--Bogs and moist grounds, N. Scotia to N. C., west to Minn. and Iowa.

5. ORoNTIUM, L., GOLDEN-CLUB.

Spathe incomplete and distant, merely a leaf-sheath investing the lower part of the slender scape, and bearing a small and imperfect bract-like blade. Flowers crowded all over the narrow spadix, perfect; the lower with 6 concave sepals and 6 stamens; the upper ones with 4. Filaments flattened; anthers 2-celled, opening obliquely lengthwise. Ovary 1-celled, with an anatropous ovule; stigma sessile, entire. Fruit a green utricle. Seed without alb.u.men. Embryo thick and fleshy, "with a large concealed cavity at the summit, the plumule curved in a groove on the outside." (_Torr._)--An aquatic perennial, with a deep rootstock, long-petioled and entire oblong and nerved floating leaves, and the spadix terminating the elongated scape; its rather club-shaped emersed apex as thick as the spadix. (Origin of the name obscure.)

1. O. aquatic.u.m, L.--Ponds, Ma.s.s. to Fla. May.

6. aCORUS, L. SWEET FLAG. CALAMUS.

Spadix cylindrical, lateral, sessile, emerging from the side of a simple 2-edged scape which resembles the leaves, densely covered with perfect flowers. Sepals 6, concave. Stamens 6; filaments linear; anthers kidney-shaped, 1-celled, opening across. Ovary 2--3-celled, with several pendulous orthotropous ovules in each cell; stigma minute. Fruit at length dry, gelatinous inside, 1--few-seeded. Embryo in the axis of alb.u.men.--Pungent aromatic plants, especially the thick creeping rootstocks (_calamus_ of the shops), which send up 2-edged sword-like leaves, and scapes somewhat like them, bearing the spadix on one edge; the upper and more foliaceous prolongation sometimes considered as a kind of open spathe. (????a?, the ancient name, of no known meaning.)

1. A. Calamus, L. Scape leaf-like and prolonged far beyond the (yellowish-green) spadix.--Margins of rivulets, swamps, etc., N. Scotia to Fla., west to Minn., Iowa, and E. Kan.

ORDER 124. LEMNaCEae. (DUCKWEED FAMILY.)

_Minute stemless plants, floating free on the water, dest.i.tute of distinct stem and foliage, being merely a frond, producing one or few moncious flowers from the edge or upper surface, and commonly hanging roots from underneath; ovules rising from the base of the cell. Fruit a 1--7-seeded utricle. Seed large; the apex or radicular extremity of the seed-coat separable as an operculum or lid_ (as in Cabomba, etc.).

_Embryo straight, surrounded by fleshy or sometimes very scanty alb.u.men._--The simplest, and some of them the smallest of flowering plants, propagating by the proliferous growth of a new individual from a cleft in the edge or base of the parent frond, remaining connected for some time or separating, also by autumnal fronds in the form of minute bulblets, which sink to the bottom of the water, but rise and vegetate in spring; the flowers (in summer) and fruit scarce, in some species hardly ever seen. Frond more or less cavernous; the upper surface furnished with stomata.--These plants may be regarded as very simplified Araceae.

1. Spirodela. Frond 7--11-nerved, with several rootlets.

2. Lemna. Frond 1--5-nerved, with a single rootlet.

3. Wolffia. Frond thick, very minute (--{2/3}' broad), without rootlets.

1. SPIRODeLA, Schleiden.

Anther-cells bilocellate by a vertical part.i.tion and longitudinally dehiscent. Ovules 2. Frond 7--11-nerved or more; rootlets several, with axile vascular tissue. Otherwise as Lemna. (From spe??a, _a cord_, and d????, _evident_.)

1. S. polyrrhza, Schleid. Fronds round-obovate (2--4" long), thick, purple and rather convex beneath, dark green above, palmately (mostly 7-) nerved. (Lemna polyrrhiza, _L._)--Very common in ponds and pools, throughout N. Am., but very rarely found in flower or fruit. (Eu.)

2. LeMNA, L. DUCKWEED. DUCK'S-MEAT.