Author: Stella Marie Schultz

Permanent E-mail Address: stelstar76@aol.com

Class E-mail Address: 350schultz@dial.pick.uga.edu

Common names: Green Dragon, Dragon Root

Higher Taxa:

The Green Dragon can grow up to 3 feet tall and is, of course, green in color. The reproductive structure of this plant has a spathe and a spadix. According to "The Genus Arisaema", the spathe is a "convolute tube that surrounds the spadix". Unlike the common Jack-in-the-Pulpit, the spadix is a very slender, elongated flower stalk that protrudes far beyond the spathe. This "Jack is much too tall for the pulpit" (Gupton, 1987). The leaves are 4 to 6 inches long with 7-13 parts. The Time Life Plant Encyclopedia says that "the microscopic flowers cover the spadix," and that "in the late summer or fall, a tightly packed cluster of orange berries also covers the spadix". Linnaeus originally described this species. Peterson and McKenny's A Field Guide to Wildflowers includes Green Dragon within an identification key.

According to Time Life, Green Dragon" grows wild in the East from New Brunswick and Quebec to South Carolina, and in the Midwest from Manitoba to Missouri and Kansas".

Green Dragon is a perennial that prefers "partial to full shade for growth", according to "Le Jardin Ombrage". The source also says that it does best in moist soil that is "rich and humusy with a pH of 4.5-6.0". It blooms from May until June. Interestingly, Green Dragon is extremely poisonous. Turner and Szczawinski suggest that "no part of the plant should be eaten" because of its needle-like calcium oxalate crystals that "pierce the tissues of the mouth, tongue, and throat, causing intense burning and inflammation" (Turner and Szczawinski, 1991).

Green Dragon can easily be recognized with its extremely long spadix protruding from the spathe. The best time of year to discover them is during their blooming season, from May to June. It would be best found in wooded areas where there is a lot of leaf litter and humus.

Benson, Lyman. Plant Classification, Second Edition. D.C. Heath and Company: Toronto; 1979.

Browne, Edward T. Jr. and Raymond Athey. Vascular Plants of Kentucky. The University Press of Kentucky: Lexington; 1992.

Chapman A.W.. Flora of the SouthernUnited States, Third Edition. American Book Company: New York; 1897.

Coile, Nancy C. and Samuel B. Jones, Jr.. The Georgia Plant List. The University of Georgia Press: Athens; 1985.

Dana, Mrs. William Starr. How to Know the Wild Flowers. Charles Scribner's Sons: New York; 1900.

Fleming, Cristol, Marion Blois Lobstein, and Barbara Tufty. Finding Wildflowers in the Washington-Baltimore Area. The Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore; 1995.

Gupton, Oscar W. and Fred C. Swope. Fall Wildflowers of the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. University Press of Virginia: Charlottesville; 1987.

Hunter, Carl G.. Wildflowers of Arkansas. The Ozark Society Foundation: Little Rock; 1984.

Peterson, Roger Tory and MargaretMcKenny. A Field Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and Northcentral North America. Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston; 1968.

Porter, C.L.. Taxonomy of Flowering Plants. W.H. Freeman and Company: San Francisco; 1967.

Turner, Nancy J., Ph.D. and Adam F. Szczawinski, Ph.D.. Common Poisonous Plants and Mushrooms of North America. Timber Press: Portland; 1991.

Wofford, B. Eugene and Robert Kral. Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Tennessee. Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Inc.: 1993.

"The Genus Arisaema". http://wcn.simplenet.com/faq/arisaema.htm

"Arisaema". Time Life Plant Encyclopedia. http://www.pathfinder.com/vg/TimeLife/CG/BOOKS/E08/Html/E08008C.html

"Le Jardin Ombrage". http://www.freenet.tlh.fl.us/~skinnerd/Arisadra.htm

"Paul Christian Arisaema Photo Gallery". http://rareplants.co.uk/gallaris.htm

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