Arisarum vulgare, common name the friar's cowl or larus, is an herbaceous, perennial, rhizomatous plant in the genus Arisarum belonging to the family Araceae.
Description Arisarum vulgare reaches on average of height. The leaves of this geophyte plant are basal only, wide, ovate to arrow-shaped, with a petiole long. The stems are erect and unbranched, usually mottled and grow directly from the underground rhizome. A single leaflike bract (spathe) forms a purplish-brown or olive green striped tube about 5 inches long, with an open upper part helmet or hood-shaped curved forward. It encloses a fleshy greenish clublike spike (spadix) bent forward, protruding from the tube and bearing at the bottom minute purple violet flowers. The 20 male flowers are located above the four to six female, with sterile flowers completely missing. The flowering period extends from October through May. The sexes are united in the same individual plant. Pollination is granted by insects (entomophily). The fruits are greenish berries of about long.
Distribution Arisarum vulgare is native to the Mediterranean Basin, from the Caucasus in the east to the southeastern Iberian Peninsula in the west, where it introgresses with Arisarum simorrhinum.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
Habitat Arisarum vulgare prefers grassy fields and rocky scrubland, forests and wasteland, mainly in shady and cool places and in moist soils, at an altitude of above sea level.
Subspecies The main described subspecies are the following:
Arisarum vulgare O.Targ.Tozz. subsp. vulgare (above described) Arisarum vulgare O.Targ.Tozz. subsp. simorrhinum (Durieu) Maire & Weiller
In Arisarum vulgare subsp. simorrhinum the flower stem is much shorter than the petioles. Bract and spadix are erect. The latter is thickened at the tip.
Gallery
Synonyms
Arisarum arisarum (L.) Huth Arisarum australe Rich. Arisarum azoricum Schott Arisarum balansae Schott Arisarum crassifolium Schott Arisarum forbesii Schott Arisarum incurvatum Holmboe Arisarum jacquinii Schott Arisarum latifolium Bubani Arisarum latifolium Hill Arisarum libani Schott Arisarum serpentrium Raf. Arisarum sibthorpii Schott Arisarum subalpinum Kotschy ex Engl. Arisarum veslingii Schott Arum arisarum L. Arum arisarum Lour. Arum calyptrale Salisb. Arum incurvatum Lam. Arum libani Schott Balmisa vulgaris (Targ.Tozz.) Lag. Calyptrocoryne cochinchinensis (Blume) Schott Typhonium cochinchinense BlumeSynonyms in EOL
References
Herbaro virtual Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia - Edagricole – 1982 - Vol. II, pag. 629 Tutin, T.G. et al. - Flora Europaea, second edition - 1993
External links
Arisareae en Wikispecies. Flora europaea Biolib Arisarum vulgare Malta Plants