Arum palaestinum Boiss.

CATE Araceae, 17 Dec 2011. araceae.e-monocot.org

Distribution

Syria, Lebanon, Israel, ? Jordan (Sterile material at K).

Phenology

Flowering March to May.

General Description

Tuberous herb sprouting in autumn from a discoid, vertically, rarely horizontally, orientated tuber 4.5-8 cm across, 2-2.5 cm thick. Petiole terete, 15-21 cm long, 3-7 mm wide, dark to mid-green, often stained purple to ½ way up. Leaf- blade sagittate to oblong-sagittate, apex acute to subacute, 15-36 cm long, 10-25 cm wide, deep green. INFLORESCENCE either smelling of fermenting apples or weakly of dung and carrion, rarely scentless. Peduncle shorter than to just exceeding the leaves, terete, 8-27.5 cm long, 4-6 mm wide, pale to mid-green, often stained purple for c. ? of its length. Spathe 9-23 cm long; spathe-tube oblong-cylindric, 2.5-5 cm long, 1.5-3 cm wide, weakly constricted above, exterior greenish to pale brown, interior purple above, greenish white below; spathe-limb lanceolate, 6.5-23 cm long, 3.5-9 cm wide, erect on unfurling, ± reflexed at maturity, acuminate, externally pale green to pale greenish brown, with slight purple staining, internally deep uniform purple , the apex occasionally mid-green. Spadix c. ½ as long to subequal to the spathe-limb , 9.5-17 cm in total length; appendix fusiform-cylindric, obscurely stipitate, 7-19 cm long, 4-7 mm wide, black-purple. Staminodes in 1 or 2 whorls, forming a zone 1.5-3 mm long; bristles subulate, stiff , 9-11 mm long, deep purple; bases bulbiform, verruculose, purple. Interstices: upper 2-2.5 mm long, longitudinally ridged, purple; lower ± absent. Staminate flowers in a roughly oblong zone 9-13 mm long, 7-10 mm wide; anthers and connectives dark purple. Pistillodes in 2-5 whorls forming a zone 2.5-4 mm long; bristles subulate, stiff , 6-7 mm long, deep purple; bases bulbiform, verruculose, purple. Pistillate flowers in a cylindric cluster 11-14 mm long, 7-11 mm wide; ovaries oblong, 1.5-2 mm long, pale green stained with purple apically; stigma purple. Fruiting spike oblong-cylindric, 3-5 cm long, 2-3 cm wide; berries oblong, 4-11 mm long, 3.5-5 mm wide. Germination epigeal.

Habitat

Open hillsides, fallow fields, field margins, waste places. On limestone-derived terra rossa and calcareous rocks, alluvial soils and soils derived from Eocene and basalt rocks.

Diagnostic

Spathe-tube relatively open; spathe-limb interior deep uniform purple . Spadix-appendix stout, shortly stipitate. Inflorescence typically smelling of fermenting fruit. (allied to Arum dioscoridis)