DRACUNCULUS VULGARIS

Family:- ARACEAE

Common Name:- Dragon arum

Synonyms:- Aron dracunculum, Arum dracunculus, Arum guttatum,

Dracunculus dracunculus, Dracunculus spadiceus.

Meaning:- Dracunculus (Gr) Little-dragon, (reference to the serpentine roots).

Vulgaris (L) Common, vulgar.

General description:- Tall, tuberous, robust perennial.

Stem:-

a) to 1m, occasionally taller.

b) thick, formed, from the leaf-stalks and flower-stem.

c) strongly blotched.

Leaves:-

1) Lamina:

a) 15-20 x 25-35 cm.

b) more or less kidney-shape (reniform) in outline.

c) segments 9-15, elliptical to oblong-lanceolate, acute.

d) deep green, often with white streaks.spotted with dark purple.

2) Petiole:

a) with a long, wide sheathing base, concealing the base of the leafless flower

bearing stem (scape) so as to make some leaves appear to be borne on the

stem.

Flower:-

1) Spathe:

a) 20-40(-55) cm.

b) hairless (glabrous), with abaxial surface greenish and adaxial dark brownish-

purple.

c) upper part lance-shaped, erect; margins undulate.

2) Spadix:

a) erect and very stout, tapered to the tip; with male and female zones almost

contiguous.

b) deep maroon-black, shiny, velvety (velutinous).

c) sterile flowers few. sometimes absent.

d) foul smelling.

Fruit:-

1) Berries:

a) borne in a large oblong head.

b) orange-red when ripe.

Key features:-

1) Adaxial surface of spathe and appendix of the spadix smooth and hairless

(glabrous).

Habitat:- Rocky places, scrub, fields, roadsides, hedgerows, dry hillsides, up to

1200 m.

Distribution:- Algeria, Corsica and Sardinia eastwards to Turkey, including Crete,

but not Cyprus. Widespread and common on Crete.

Flowering time:- Apr-July.

Photo by:- Steve Lenton