Compilation
Arum dracontium

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Name

Identification
Arum dracontium L. [family ARACEAE ] (stored under name); Arum dracontium L. [family ARACEAE ] Verified by James L. Reveal, Arisaema triphyllum (L.) Schott [family ARACEAE ] Verified by James L. Reveal,
Related name
  • Arum dracontium
  • Arisaema triphyllum
Common name
  • dragon-root, Flora of North America Vol. 22
  • Green-dragon, Flora of North America Vol. 22

Flora

Entry for Arisaema dracontium (Linnaeus) Schott [family ARACEAE]
Herbarium
Flora of North America (FNA)
Collection
Flora of North America
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of North America, Vol 22,
Names
Arisaema dracontium (Linnaeus) Schott [family ARACEAE], in H. W. Schott and S. L. Endlicher,Meletemata Botanica, 17. 1832
Arum dracontium Linnaeus [family ARACEAE], Sp. Pl., 2: 964. 1753
Muricauda dracontium (Linnaeus) Small [family ]
Information
Plants 1.5--9 dm. Roots radiating from apex of corm; corm to 8 cm diam. Leaves usually solitary; petiole medium green or purple-marked; blade pedately divided, leaflets (5--)7--13(--21), sessile or petiolulate, elliptic to oblanceolate, to 28 ´ 10 cm, apex acute to acuminate; central leaflet usually shorter than neighboring ones, these leaflets longest, outer progressively smaller. Inflorescences: s Spathe light green, sometimes marked with purple, convolute, 3--6(--12) cm; blade usually scarcely distinguished from tube; . sSpadix 6--20 cm (or longer), longer than spathe, apex tapering in long slender appendage to 15 cm. Staminate flowers with 2--4 stamens. Fruits oblong or pear-shaped, 7--13 mm. Seeds 1--2(--6), 3--5 mm diam. 2n = 28, 56.
Phenology
Flowering late winter (southern part of range)--late spring
Altitude range
30--1200 m
Distribution
e Mexico.USA Ala.USA Ark.USA Conn.USA Del.USA D.C.USA Fla.USA Ga.USA Ill.USA Ind.USA IowaUSA Kans.USA Ky.USA La.USA Md.USA Mass.USA Mich.USA Minn.USA Miss.USA Mo.USA Nebr.USA N.J.USA N.Y.USA N.C.USA OhioUSA Okla.USA Pa.USA S.C.USA Tenn.USA Tex.USA Vt.USA Va.USA W.Va.USA Wis.Canada Ont.Canada Que.
Discussion
Reports of Arisaema dracontium occurring in New Hampshire and Rhode Island have not been substantiated by specimens. The species has also been reported from Nuevo León and Veracruz, Mexico (E. Matuda 1954); more study is needed to determine if these plants are conspecific. Specimens with a wider spathe blade than is typical in A. dracontium have been collected in Florida and Georgia, and these forms may represent intermediates between A. dracontium and the Mexican species A. macrospathum Bentham, which has an expanded spathe blade. D. G. Huttleston (1953) treated A. macrospathum as a subspecies of A. dracontium in his dissertation, but this change in taxonomic status was never formally published.

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