Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Arisaema triphyllum

Family Araceae

Brief Description:
The spathe is green or purple and represents the pulpit or hood. It covers the basal part of a fleshy, cylindrical, blunt spadix that is yellow in color. Stands 1-3 feet in height. Has 1-2 leaves that are divided into three leaflets. Corm is walnut size or larger.

Blooms from April to May.

Geographic Range: From Nova Scotia to North Dakota, south to Florida and Texas.

Habitat: Rich, moist woods or boggy, wet woods

Propagation: Around September, collect the bright red berries which contain 1-5 seeds each. Cleans the seeds and sow indoors or outdoors; if outdoors, sow 3-4 inches apart.

Garden Use: For the shade or woodland garden, single plants are nice with ferns. Interplant with shade loving groundcover such as Foamflower and Wild Ginger.

Historic Uses: If the plant is chewed it causes the mouth to swell. It was given by schoolboys to each other as a joke and thus received the name, "memory root" because they never forgot its effects. Dried corms may be thinly sliced and eaten as chips or ground into a flour; as with Skunk Cabbage, poisonous if not dried.