nature A freshly-emerged spathe, showing the spadix. The flowers are hidden in the bulbous base of the spathe. Note the spearshaped leaves behind.
LORDS AND LADIES
By Mik
e Geo r ge
Mike George is our regular contributor on wildlife and the countryside in France. He is a geologist and naturalist, living in the Jurassic area of the Charente
ONE WAYSIDE PLANT THAT YOU WILL BE VERY LIKELY TO SEE IN SPRING AS YOU WALK THE LANES IS THE WILD ARUM
Y
That Is a Strange Flower! ou may even find it in a forgotten corner of your garden. It is known by a The proliferation of names for this plant number of names, among which are probably arises from its curious Lords-and-Ladies and Cuckoo-pint. The appearance, and its mysterious way of French have several names for it, too, as reproducing. You can’t actually see the well as Arum, such as Gouet (bill-hook) flower on this plant without performing and Pied-de-veau (calf’s foot). surgery on it. All you see is a clump of Scientifically, it is Arum spear-head shaped leaves maculatum, which may with, in April-May, a lilyThe proliferation of derive, according to the like greenish spathe (a names for this plant Oxford Dictionary, from special type of leaf) the Latin arum, which in probably arises from its looking rather like a turn derives from the mediaeval monk’s hood, curious appearance Greek aron (αρωη), rising to about 10 cm meaning poisonous. above the ground. This Alternatively, it may be derived from the coyly reveals a purplish truncheon-like Arabic word Ar, meaning fire, in reference organ called a spadix. The flowers are to its acrid taste. Maculatum means hidden inside the bulbous base of spotted (as in immaculate – without spot). the spathe.
In the late afternoon, the flowers emit a smell reminiscent of rotting meat, together with heat which encourages the smell to spread. This entices minute flies to enter the base of the spathe. Once in, they are trapped by a ring of inwardpointing hairs. They become coated with pollen from the upper ring of male flowers, which actually shower them with pollen. Some may escape then and fly to another flower, while others may pass through some stiffer hairs to the ring of female flowers below. Here they remain trapped (though nourished by nectar secreted by the female flowers) until they have fertilised the flowers by buzzing around inside the very restricting bulb. Only pollen they were carrying from a previously-visited arum will fertilise these
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