The Dawes Arboretum

Common name: Jack-in-the-pulpit, Indian-turnip

Family: Araceae (arum family)

Synonym: Arisaema atrorubens

Distribution: e. North America

Hardiness: USDA Zone 4

Life form: Geophyte (bulb, corm or tuber)

Comments: A favorite spring-blooming native plant that grows 12-24" tall x 12" wide. Flower structure consists of the spadix (Jack) and the sheath-like spathe (pulpit) which opens to form a hood extending over the top of the spadix. The outside of the spathe is usually green or purple, and the inside is usually striped purple and greenish white. Two large, green, long-petioled leaves emanate upward from a single stalk and provide umbrella-like shade to the flower. The fleshy stalk and leaves lend an almost tropical aura to the plant. Flowering plants initially produce only male flowers, but become hermaphroditic as they further age (male flowers on upper part of spadix and female on lower part). Slowly forms colonies that go dormant by mid-summer-but the mature, hermaphroditic flowering plant will produce a cluster of red berries in mid to late summer which becomes visible as the spathe withers.