jack-in-the-pulpit

/jak"in dheuh pool"pit, -pul"-/, n., pl. jack-in-the-pulpits.

A North American plant, Arisaema triphyllum, of the arum family, having an upright spadix arched over by a green or striped purplish-brown spathe.

[1840-50, Amer.]

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North American plant (Arisaema triphyllum) of the arum family, noted for the unusual shape of its flower.

One of the best-known perennial wildflowers of late spring in the eastern U.S. and Canada, it grows in wet woodlands and thickets from Nova Scotia to Minnesota and south to Florida and Texas. Three-part leaves on each of two long stalks overshadow the flower, which consists of a conspicuous green-and purple-striped structure called a spathe ("pulpit") that rises on a separate stalk. The spathe curves in a hood over a club-shaped spadix ("jack") that, at its base, bears minute flowers. In late summer the plant produces a cluster of brilliant red berries that are poisonous to humans but are eaten by many wild animals.

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▪ plant

also called  Indian Turnip, Bog Onion, Brown Dragon, or Starchwort 

      (species Arisaema triphyllum), a North American plant of the arum family (Araceae), noted for the unusual shape of its flower. The plant is native to wet woodlands and thickets from Nova Scotia to Minnesota and southward to Florida and Texas. It is a stoutish perennial, 1 to 2.5 feet (0.3 to 0.8 m) high, and usually bears two long-stalked, three-parted leaves that overshadow the flower. The latter consists of a conspicuous green- and purple-striped structure called a spathe, which rises on a separate stalk between the leaves. The flowering spathe curves in a hood over a club-shaped structure called a spadix, near the base of which are borne the plant's minute flowers. The plant's fruit ripens in late summer into a cluster of brilliant red berries. The jack-in-the-pulpit is one of the best-known wildflowers of the eastern United States and Canada during the late spring.

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