| Arisaema dracontium | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| Order: | Alismatales |
| Family: | Araceae |
| Subfamily: | Aroideae |
| Tribe: | Arisaemateae |
| Genus: | Arisaema |
| Species: | A. dracontium |
| Binomial name | |
| Arisaema dracontium (L.) Schott, |
|
Arisaema dracontium (Dragon-root, Green dragon) is a herbaceous perennial plant in the genus Arisaema and the family Araceae. It is native to North America from Quebec to Minnesota South to Florida and Texas, where it is found growing in damp woods.[1] Plants grow 20–50 cm tall when in bloom and after flowering reach 100 cm, they grow from a corm.[2] Normally a single leaf is produced with long petioles, the leaf is composed of 7 to 13 leaflets with the center leaflet the largest and leaflets becoming smaller as they are produced on the outside surface, the leaflets are held out horizontally over the plant. During flowering in spring a single, slender, green spathe 3 to 6 cm long is produced that covers a tapering, long thin spadix. The tall like spadix grows out around the top of the spathe. After flowering, up to 150 berries are produced in a club shaped column. In late summer the green berries turn orange-red, each berry produces 1 to 3 seeds.[3] It is listed as a vulnerable species in Canada.
Within the genus Arisaema, A. dracontium is classified in the section Tortuosa and is most closely related to the Mexican A. macrophyllum. In fact, A. macrophyllum has sometimes been considered a subspecies of A. dracontium. The rest of the section contains species from east Asia and India. A. dracontium is not a close relative to the other American Arisaema species, A. triphyllum (jack-in-the-pulpit), which is in a different section of Arisaema.[4]