AA #7: Painfully Poisonous Bizarre Bobbins
The cache, a camo-taped 35mm film canister, is hidden along this damp, shady part of the trail as it makes its way up to the farm access track connecting to the road. Hidden at the edge of the trail, was a distinctive and instantly recognisable plant . . .
One of Britain's most remarkable plants, the Cuckoo Pint (Arum maculatum) is a woodland flowering plant species in the family Araceae. It is native across most of Europe, as well as Turkey and the Caucasus. 'Pint' is a euphemistic shortening of the word 'pintle', meaning penis, derived from the shape of the spadix.
It is aka by numerous common names Adam and Eve, adder's meat or root, (wild) arum (lily), bobbins, cows and bulls, cuckoo-plant, devils and angels, friar's cowl, jack (or lamb) in the pulpit, lords-and-ladies, naked boys, snakeshead, starch-root, and wake-robin. Many of these refer to its appearance likening it to male and female genitalia symbolising copulation. Starch-root simply describes its use to make laundry starch.
It typically grows in shady woodland areas and along streams and riversides but occasionally as a weed in partly shaded spots. Its 7-20cm leaves appear in the spring and are followed by the flowers borne on a poker-shaped inflorescence called a spadix, which is partially enclosed in a pale green spathe or leaf-like hood. The spathe can be up to 25cm high and the fruiting spike which follows later in the season may be up to 5cm.
Even more spectacular is the related titan arum, Amorphophallus titanum, native to western Sumatra, with a giant inflorescence standing some 2.1m tall!
The flowers are hidden from sight, clustered at the base of the spadix with a ring of female flowers at the bottom and a ring of male flowers above them. The leaves may be either purple-spotted (var. maculatum) or unspotted (var. immaculatum).
Above the male flowers is a ring of hairs forming an insect trap. Insects, especially owl-midges Psychoda phalaenoides, are attracted to the spadix by its faecal odour and a temperature up to 15°C warmer than the ambient temperature. They become trapped beneath the ring of hairs and are dusted with pollen by the male flowers before escaping and carrying the pollen to the spadices of other plants, where they pollinate the female flowers. The spadix may also be yellow, but purple is the more common.
In autumn, the lower ring of (female) flowers forms a cluster of bright red-orange berries up to 5cm long which remain after the spathe and other leaves have withered away. The root-tuber may be very big and is used to store starch. In mature specimens, it may be as much as 40cm below ground level.
Many small rodents appear to find the spadix particularly attractive; finding examples of the plant with much of the spadix eaten away is common. The spadix produces heat and probably scent as the flowers mature, and this may attract the rodents. It is propagated by birds dispersing the seeds by eating the berries.
All parts of the plant can produce allergic reactions and it should be handled with care. The attractive berries are extremely poisonous to many animals, including humans but harmless to birds, which eat them and propagate the seeds.
They contain oxalates of saponins which have needle-shaped crystals that irritate the skin, mouth, tongue, and throat, and result in swelling of the throat, difficulty breathing, burning pain, and upset stomach. However, their acrid taste, coupled with the almost immediate tingling sensation in the mouth when consumed, means that large amounts are rarely taken and serious harm is unusual. It is one of the most common causes of accidental plant poisoning based on attendance at hospital emergency departments. See here for poisoning info & treatment.
Uses: the root when roasted well, is edible and when ground was once traded under the name of Portland sago (see here). It was used like salep (orchid flour) to make saloop, a drink popular in the C17 before the introduction of tea or coffee. It was also used as a substitute for arrowroot. However, it can be highly toxic if not prepared correctly.
It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in traditional and woodland shade gardens. The cluster of bright red berries standing alone without foliage can be a striking landscape accent. The mottled and variegated leaf patterns can add bright interest in darker habitats.
The roots were a traditional source of starch for stiffening clothes. In 1440, the nuns of Syon Abbey in England used the roots of the cuckoo-pint flower to make starch for church linens- as only starch 'made of herbes' could be used for communion linen.
For short videos, see here (identification), and here (entertaining and informative presentation on many aspects of the plant).
