Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Northeastern North America, Volume II: A Revised and Enlarged Edition of Norman C. Fassett's A Manual of Aquatic Plants, Volume II: Angiosperms: Monocotyledons

Subclass Arecidae: Acoraceae / Sweet-flag Family

Subclass Arecidae Acoraceae / Sweet-Rag Family 1. Acarus (Sweet-flag. Calamus) Emersed perennials. arising from thick. creeping. aromatic rhizomes; leaves long-linear; flowers bisexual. 3-merous. greenish; fruit a gelatinous, few-seeded berry, REFERENCES: Buell, 1935; Grayum, 1987; Love and Love, 1957, 1. A, americanus (Raf.) Raf, Fig, 398 Wet meadows. marshes, ponds, and stream banks. Nfld., N.S., P.E.I., and Que. w. to Minn., Mont., and Ida., s. to Fla. and Tex. This species is often confused in the sterile state with Iris, but is easily recognized by its keeled leaves and sweet odor of the lower portion of the plant. Acarus calamus sensu stricto is a sterile triploid , whereas the North American plants are diploid and have been treated by Love and LOve (1957) as A. americanus (Raf.) Raf. Introductions of A. calamus in the northeast, apparently for medicinal purposes, present identification problems in discerning the pollen-sterile triploids from native A. americanus populations . According to Grayum (1987), studies of pollen morphology in the Araceae support the removal of the genus Acarus and placement of it in its own family, the Acoraceae. Araceae / Arum Family REFERENCES: Hellquist and Crow, 1982; Wilson, 1960. 1. Spadix golden-yellow; spathe obscure, forming a sheath at base oflong scape (fig. 398d); leaves broadly oblong-elliptic ... 1. Orontium 1. Spadix green or brown; spathe broad. conspicuous; leaves ovate (fig. 40lb), cordate (fig. 400a), hastate or sagittate (fig. 399b). 2. Leaf blades hastate or sagittate (juveniles unlobed), with prominent vein extending into each basal lobe (fig. 399b) ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 2. PeItandra 2. Leaf blades broadly rounded to cordate, lacking prominent vein extending into basal lobes (if present). 3. Spathe white; spadix on a long peduncle (fig. 400), emerging after leaves; plants lacking a strong odor when bruised 3. Calla 3. Spathe mottled, purplish-green and/or reddish-brown; spadix nearly sessile (fig. 401a), emerging very early. before leaves; plant with a strong skunk-like odor when bruised ..................................... 4. Symplocarpus 1. Orantium (Golden-club) Perennial herbs, growing from a deep rhizome; leaves basal.long-petioled, entire, often floating; flowers bisexual. borne in a goldenyellow spadix; spathe a reduced. obscure sheath at base of scape; fruit a blue-green or brownish utricle. REFERENCE: Grear. 1966. 1. 0. aquaticum 1. Fig. 398 Shallow water, swamps, and shores of rivers and ponds. Mass. and c. N.Y. sw. to Pa., W.Va.• and Ky., s. to Fla. and La. 76 Fig. 398. Acorus americanus: a. habit; b. spadix (NHAES). Orontium aquaticum: c. habit. terrestrial plant; d. spadix with reduced spathe; e. habit. submersed plant; f. submersed juvenile stage (NHAES). 77 78 ANGIOSPERMS 2. Peltandra (Arrow-arum) Emersed perennials, with thick fibrous or subtuberous roots; leaves basal, long-petioled, blades hastate or sagittate; upper flowers of spadix staminate, lower ones pistillate; fruit an amber or green berry. REFERENCE: Blake, 1912. 1. P. virginica (L.) Schott & End!. Fig. 399 Bogs, swamps, and margins ofponds, rivers, and streams. C. Me. and s. Que. w. to Mich., Ont., and Wisc., s. to Fla" se. Okla" and Tex. Vegetative plants are often confused with several species of Sagittaria or Pontederia cordata, but can be easily differentiated by the conspicuous vein paralleling the leaf margin (fig. 399b) and by a single prominent midvein and a prominent vein extending into each basal lobe. This highly variable species has had many dubious forms named, solely on the basis of leaf shape. 3. Calla (Water-arum, Wild Calla) Emersed perennials, arising from a long creeping rhizome; leaves cordate, long-petioled; flowers bisexual, borne on a spadix; spathe ovate, pointed, upper surface white; fruit a red berry. 1. C. palustris L. Fig. 400 Wooded swamps, marshes, and bogs. Lab. and Nfld. w. to Alask., s. to n. N.J., n. Ind., Wise., and Minn. 4. Symplocarpus (Skunk-cabbage) Emersed perennials, arising from a thick, erect rhizome; leaves ovate to cordate, short-petioled; flowers borne on a spadix, subtended by a mottled purplish-green and/or reddish-brown spathe; ovaries imbedded in spadix, globose or ovoid mass; entire plant producing a foul skunk-like odor when bruised. 1. S. joetidus (L.) Nutt. Fig. 401 Wet woods, bogs, swamps, and stream borders. N.S. and Que. w. to se. Man" s. to Ga" Tenn., Ohio, Ind., c. Ill., and Iowa. Lemnaceae I Duckweed Family The duckweeds constitute a family characterized by floating plants which, lacking leaves, consist of globose or flattened fronds, with or without roots, and very rarely...