Arum

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Arum
Arum palaestinum flower.jpg
Arum palaestinum
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Subfamily: Aroideae
Tribe: Areae
Genus: Arum
L.
Arum distribution.svg
Range of the genus Arum
Synonyms [1]
  • AronAdans.
  • GymnomesiumSchott

Arum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to Europe, northern Africa, and western and central Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region. [1] [2] Frequently called arum lilies, they are not closely related to the true lilies Lilium . Plants in closely related Zantedeschia are also called "arum lilies".

Contents

A type of Arum plant in a park in Paris Aruminparis.jpg
A type of Arum plant in a park in Paris

They are rhizomatous, herbaceous perennial plants growing to 20–60 cm tall, with sagittate (arrowhead-shaped) leaves 10–55 cm long. The flowers are produced in a spadix, surrounded by a 10–40 cm long, distinctively coloured spathe, which may be white, yellow, brown, or purple. Some species are scented, others not. The fruit is a cluster of bright orange or red berries.

All parts of the plants, including the berries, are poisonous, [3] containing calcium oxalate as raphides. In spite of this, the plant has a history of culinary use among Arab peasants in Palestine who practised leaching the toxins from the plant before the leaves were consumed. [4] [5] [6]

The genus name is the Latinized form of the Greek name for these plants, aron.

Inflorescence and pollination

Historical model of the inner part of the inflorescence, the spadix with the flowers and ring of small hairs. Botanical Museum Greifswald. Modell von Arum (Aronstab) -Brendel Nr. 202-.jpg
Historical model of the inner part of the inflorescence, the spadix with the flowers and ring of small hairs. Botanical Museum Greifswald.

The flowers are borne on a poker-shaped inflorescence called a spadix, which is partially enclosed in a spathe or leaf-like hood of varying colour. The flowers are hidden from sight, clustered at the base of the spadix with a ring of female flowers at the bottom and a ring of male flowers above them.

Above the male flowers is a ring of hairs forming an insect trap. The insects are trapped beneath the ring of hairs and are dusted with pollen by the male flowers before escaping and carrying the pollen to the spadices of other plants, where they pollinate the female flowers. Once the plant is pollinated, the small hairs wither away and the trapped insects are released.

After the inflorescence opens, the spadix heats up well above ambient temperature, due to a phenomenon called thermogenesis. This is caused by the rapid consumption of starch in cyanide insensitive respiration, which is biochemically different from the respiration normally found in plants. The heat is used to vaporize[ clarification needed ] odour components, which in species with short "flower-stalks" cause a faecal smell. This in turn attracts the small flies and gnats that are to be trapped within the inflorescence. As the time required for successful pollination to occur can be several days, many of the small insects nevertheless die within the flower due to their short lifespan. Therefore, dead insects are frequently found within the inflorescence, when opened, sometimes leading the finder to believe it is a carnivorous plant – but that is not the case. No digestive enzymes or similar components are present; and in fact, once pollinated, the entire inflorescence starts withering except the central part, from which the berries later emerge. [7]

Pollination-wise, the species of Arum can be split into two (or three) distinct groups. The "cryptic" species have the inflorescence on a relatively short stalk, and the odour released during the thermogenesis is recognizable to the human nose as distinctively faecal. These species are visited by insects with some relation to dung, such as owl-midges (Psychodidae) or fungus-gnats (Sciara). In northern Europe, only the cryptic-flowered species are found.

The other main group are called "flag" species, due to the inflorescence being on a long stalk. These species also exhibit thermogenesis, but if an odour is released it is not recognizable to the human nose, and it is debated if pollinators are attracted by a non-recognizable smell, the thermogenesis itself or visual attraction.

Finally the closely related A. idaeum and A. creticum does not seem to fit any of the two groups. A. creticum appears to be of the "flag" group but, as the only species, emits a pleasing lemony smell. The apparently "cryptic" A. idaeum does not emit a recognizable smell. [7]

Species

Arums in a forest at Vidova gora mountain, island of Brac, Croatia Kozlaci na Vidovoj gori (Croatia).JPG
Arums in a forest at Vidova gora mountain, island of Brač, Croatia

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See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Araceae</span> Family of flowering plants

The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe. Also known as the arum family, members are often colloquially known as aroids. This family of 140 genera and about 4,075 known species is most diverse in the New World tropics, although also distributed in the Old World tropics and northern temperate regions.

<i>Amorphophallus</i> Genus of flowering plants

Amorphophallus is a large genus of some 200 tropical and subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the Arum family (Araceae), native to Asia, Africa, Australia and various oceanic islands. A few species are edible as "famine foods" after careful preparation to remove irritating chemicals. The genus includes the Titan arum of Indonesia, which has the largest inflorescence of any plant in the genus, and is also known as the 'corpse flower' for the pungent odour it produces during its flowering period, which can take up through seven years of growth before it occurs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spadix (botany)</span>

In botany, a spadix is a type of inflorescence having small flowers borne on a fleshy stem. Spadices are typical of the family Araceae, the arums or aroids. The spadix is typically surrounded by a leaf-like curved bract known as a spathe. For example, the "flower" of the well known Anthurium spp. is a typical spadix with a large colorful spathe.

<i>Philodendron</i> Genus of flowering plants

Philodendron is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. As of September 2015, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families accepted 489 species; other sources accept different numbers. Regardless of number of species, the genus is the second-largest member of the family Araceae, after genus Anthurium. Taxonomically, the genus Philodendron is still poorly known, with many undescribed species. Many are grown as ornamental and indoor plants. The name derives from the Greek words philo- 'love, affection' and dendron 'tree'. The generic name, Philodendron, is often used as the English name.

<i>Xanthosoma</i> Genus of plants

Xanthosoma is a genus of flowering plants in the arum family, Araceae. The genus is native to tropical America but widely cultivated and naturalized in other tropical regions. Several are grown for their starchy corms, an important food staple of tropical regions, known variously as malanga, otoy, otoe, cocoyam, tannia, tannier, yautía, macabo, ocumo, macal, taioba, dasheen, quequisque, ʻape and as Singapore taro. Many other species, including especially Xanthosoma roseum, are used as ornamental plants; in popular horticultural literature these species may be known as ‘ape due to resemblance to the true Polynesian ʻape, Alocasia macrorrhizos, or as elephant ear from visual resemblance of the leaf to an elephant's ear. Sometimes the latter name is also applied to members in the closely related genera Caladium, Colocasia (taro), and Alocasia.

<i>Anthurium</i> Genus of plants

Anthurium is a genus of about 1,000 species of flowering plants, the largest genus of the arum family, Araceae. General common names include anthurium, tailflower, flamingo flower, and laceleaf.

<i>Arum maculatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Arum maculatum is a woodland flowering plant species in the family Araceae. It is native across most of Europe, as well as Eastern Turkey and the Caucasus.

<i>Arisaema triphyllum</i> Species of flowering plant

Arisaema triphyllum, the Jack-in-the-pulpit, is a species of flowering plant in the arum family Araceae. It is a member of the Arisaema triphyllum complex, a group of four or five closely related taxa in eastern North America. The specific name triphyllum means "three-leaved", a characteristic feature of the species, which is also referred to as Indian turnip, bog onion, and brown dragon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrion flower</span> Flowers that smell like rotting flesh

Carrion flowers, also known as corpse flowers or stinking flowers, are mimetic flowers that emit an odor that smells like rotting flesh. Apart from the scent, carrion flowers often display additional characteristics that contribute to the mimesis of a decaying corpse. These include their specific coloration, the presence of setae and orifice-like flower architecture. Carrion flowers attract mostly scavenging flies and beetles as pollinators. Some species may trap the insects temporarily to ensure the gathering and transfer of pollen.

<i>Sauromatum venosum</i> Species of flowering plant

Sauromatum venosum is a species of plant in the arum family, Araceae. It is native to Asia and Africa, where it grows in forests and riparian meadows.

<i>Helicodiceros</i> Genus of flowering plants

Helicodiceros muscivorus, the dead horse arum lily, is an ornamental plant native to Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearic Islands. It is the only species in the genus Helicodiceros. Within the family Araceae the plant is part of the subfamily Aroideae.

<i>Dracunculus vulgaris</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Araceae

Dracunculus vulgaris is a species of aroid flowering plant in the genus Dracunculus and the arum family Araceae. Common names include the common dracunculus, dragon lily, dragon arum, black arum and vampire lily. In Greece, part of its native range, the plant is called drakondia, the long spadix being viewed as a small dragon hiding in the spathe.

<i>Peltandra virginica</i> Species of aquatic plant

Peltandra virginica is a plant of the arum family known as green arrow arum and tuckahoe. It is widely distributed in wetlands in the eastern United States, as well as in Quebec, Ontario, and Cuba. It is common in central Florida including the Everglades and along the Gulf Coast. Its rhizomes are tolerant to low oxygen levels found in wetland soils. It can be found elsewhere in North America as an introduced species and often an invasive plant.

<i>Amorphophallus titanum</i> Species of flowering plant in the arum family Araceae

Amorphophallus titanum, the titan arum, is a flowering plant in the family Araceae. It has the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. The inflorescence of the talipot palm, Corypha umbraculifera, is larger, but it is branched rather than unbranched. A. titanum is endemic to rainforests on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

<i>Arum palaestinum</i> Species of plant in the family Araceae

Arum palaestinum is a species of flowering herbaceous perennial plant in the family Araceae and the genus Arum It is native to the Levant and other parts of the Mediterranean Basin, and has been naturalized in North America, North Africa, Europe, Western Asia, and Australia The family Araceae includes other well-known plants such as Anthurium, Caladium, and Philodendron.

<i>Arum dioscoridis</i> Species of flowering plant

Arum dioscoridis, commonly known as the Spotted arum, is a plant of the arum family (Araceae).

<i>Arum cylindraceum</i> Species of plant

Arum cylindraceum is a woodland plant species of the family Araceae. It is found in most of Europe except the UK, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic States and Scandinavia, and in Turkey. It is also missing in northwestern France and southern Italy.

<i>Arum orientale</i> Species of plant

Arum orientale is a woodland plant species of the family Araceae. It is found in southeastern Europe as far west as Vienna and in Turkey. Its primary range is Romania, Bulgaria, and southern Ukraine.

<i>Typhonium brownii</i> Species of flowering plant

Typhonium brownii, also known as the black arum lily, is a species of plant in the arum family that is endemic to Australia.

<i>Arisarum proboscideum</i> Species of flowering plant

Arisarum proboscideum, also known as the mouse plant or mouse-tail plant, is a flowering plant in the family Araceae.

References

  1. 1 2 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  2. ↑ Govaerts, R. & Frodin, D.G. (2002). World Checklist and Bibliography of Araceae (and Acoraceae): 1-560. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  3. ↑ Nelson, L. et al. (2007) Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants. New York Botanical Garden.
  4. ↑ Ḳrispil, Nissim (1985). A Bag of Plants (The Useful Plants of Israel) (in Hebrew). Vol. 3 (Ṭ.-M.). Jerusalem: Cana Publishing House Ltd. ISBN   965-264-011-5. OCLC   959573975., s.v. Arum palaestinum (לוף‎)
  5. ↑ Dalman, Gustaf (2020). Nadia Abdulhadi-Sukhtian (ed.). Work and Customs in Palestine, volume II. Vol. 2 (Agriculture). Translated by Robert Schick. Ramallah: Dar Al Nasher. p. 329. ISBN   978-9950-385-84-9.
  6. ↑ Mayer-Chissick, Uri; Lev, Efraim (2016). "Wild Edible Plants in Israel Tradition Versus Cultivation". In Yaniv, Zohara; Dudai, Nati (eds.). Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of the Middle-East. New York: Dordrecht: Springer. pp. 18–20. ISBN   9789402406603. OCLC   1062304427.
  7. 1 2 Boyce, Peter (1993). The Genus Arum. London: HMSO. ISBN   0-11-250085-4. pp. 35-40
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