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Arum Trilobatum. Three-Lobed Arum.
Class and Order.
Gynandria Polyandria.
Generic Character.
Spatha monophylla cucullata. Spadix supra nudus, inferne femineus, medio stamineus.
Specific Character and Synonyms.
ARUM trilobatum acaule, foliis sagittato trilobis, flore sessili. Linn. Syst. Veget. ed. 14. Murr. p. 828. Ait. Kew. V. 3. p. 316. Mill. Icon. t. 52. f. 2.
ARISARUM amboynicum. Rumph. Amb. 5. p. 320. t. 110. f. 2.
No. 339
Mr. Miller in his figure of this plant, to which Linnæus refers, has been more happy in his representation than in that of many others; Rumphius' figure and description accord also with our plant, some of his leaves indeed are more perfectly three-lobed than any we have seen here on the living plant and to this variation, he informs us, they are subject.
We learn from Mr. Miller, that roots of this Arum were brought from Ceylon in the year 1752. It flowers in May and June, and is regarded both by Mr. Miller and Mr. Aiton as a stove plant; we have seen it succeed very well with the treatment of a tender greenhouse plant.
It is one of the least of the tribe; its root is like that of the common Arum, and extremely acrid: but the plant is more particularly distinguished by the rich, brown, velvety appearance of its flowers; the length of its tapering spadix, which on its lower part is full of little cavities, and resembles a piece of metal corroded by long exposure; and by the intolerable stench which the whole of the flower, but more especially the spadix, sends forth.
It is a native of Amboyna, as well as of Ceylon. Rumphius informs us that the roots, sometimes eaten raw by mistake, cause violent inflammations of the mouth and throat, and that they do not lose their acrimony even when boiled.
The plant increases freely by offsets from its roots.