Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

GREEN DRAGON

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Arisaema dracontium (L. ) Schott

Morris County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 6-36 inches

Family: Araceae - Arum Family

Flowering Period: May, June

Also Called:

Dragon root.

Stems:

Leaves and inflorescence stalk arising from corm, erect.

Leaves:

Usually solitary, compound with 5-15 leaflets; stalk at flowering 8 to 20 inches long, later to 36 inches, green or purplish; leaflets elliptic to nearly lanceolate, 2.8 to 11.2 inches long, .8 to 4 inches wide, central leaflet often shorter than neighbors; tips pointed; gradually tapering to narrow base; primary veins parallel from mid-rib to margins.

Inflorescences:

Spadix, 2.4 to 8 inches long, long-tapering to slender point, extending beyond enclosing spathe; spathe slender, tubular, 1.2 to 4.8 inches long, .6 to .8 inch wide, green, with bend near middle.

Flowers:

Tiny, crowded on central axis of spadix; staminate flowers above pistillate flowers; staminate flowers with 2-4 stamens.

Fruits:

Dense clusters of berries; berries fleshy, oblong or pear-shaped, 1/3 to 1/2 inch long, bright red; seeds 1-6, 1/8 to 1/5 inch in diameter. Fruits ripen in October.

Habitat:

Moist deciduous woods, bases of ravines, bottomland woods, moist wooded slopes.

Distribution:

East 1/2 of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Toxicity:

The plant contains microscopic calcium oxalate crystals. When consumed fresh, the corms cause intense burning of the mouth and throat.

Uses:

Native Americans dried and ground the corms for food. There was a belief that corm bundles would bring supernatural dreams.

Comments:

Latin dracontium "of a dragon" alludes to the tail-like spadix.