Arum Maculatum
bio:species:arum_maculatumArum maculatum — lords-and-ladies, cuckoo-pint. Araceae, order Alismatales. Characters: arrow-shaped leaves appearing in early spring, often blotched dark purple-black; the inflorescence a pale green hood — the spathe — wrapped round a dull purple club, the spadix; the tiny true flowers sit hidden at the base of that club in a chamber, females below, males above, with a ring of downward-pointing hairs across the entrance; for a few hours the spadix WARMS, several degrees above the air, and the heat carries a smell of dung that draws in owl-midges, which fall past the hairs and are held overnight until the pollen is shed and the hairs wither; after the leaves die back, a bare spike of red berries is left standing. Setting: woodland, coppice and shaded hedge banks on base-rich, moist soils. Range: western, central and southern Europe, north to Britain and southern Scandinavia. Naming: arum from the Greek aron; maculatum, spotted, for the leaf — though plenty of populations are not.