Jack In The Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum)

Jack In The Pulpit
Arisaema triphyllum

Arisaema Atrorubens Var. Zebrinum

Hi Lauren,
Is this a native in our areas? I have one that looks like this. It comes up later than the all-green ones, and gets larger. But I think I bought it dormant from a chain store. Anyway, thanks for posting this. What a name!
Here is a link to a picture of mine...just the bloom. Can you compare?
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/41246/
Thanks,
Susan

Hi, Your hood and spadex are considerably darker than the specimens I found growing here. Could be a naturally occurring deviation from type. Unfortunately, I suspect yours was field collected "en masse" for resale. These plants are somewhat tricky to propagate and well... they do have very specific cultural requirements so why should they (big box stores) go to all the time and expense of locating and purchasing their stock from nurseries propagating them when they can go and buy them from people who dig them up for .10 a piece or worse... purchase them from people who poached them. I hate wild collectors. So glad you got it. You have no idea how many people buy these plants and stick them in a sunny front border. Needless to say they are toast in that location.

At these sites, there are photos that are a dead match to the plant I photographed-
http://www.fotosearch.com/CPH180/127021
http://www.botany.wisc.edu/wisflora/scripts/SearchResults.asp?Genus=Arisaema

I did not think this variation extended down as far south as MO... But then I found this reference-
http://biology.smsu.edu/Herbarium/Plants%20of%20the%20Interior%20Highlands/atlas,Acanthaceae%20to%20Aspleniaceae.htm
Somebody would have to check local herbarium records down your way for clarification.

It's going to get fun out there with classification as the heavy hitters are out there battling over what gets lumped where right now but I'd defer to these people-
http://www.aroid.org/genera/arisaema/speclist.html

Back to your plant, it is considerably more striking in appearance than mine. I like the intense contrast of the "striping".

DG should have a category of Arisaema complex (just kidding) so that we can toss all photos of these little pretties into it until the dust settles as to what is actually what, mine included. There is so much arguing going on over Arisaema right now that I suspect mine will get reclasified if it hasn't already. The more I get into plants, the more I don't know.

I certainly agree with your last statement! The more we know, the less we know. I think I will settle for "Jack in the Pulpit" as good enough, considering all the information you gave me about arguments currently underway.
How discouraging to think mine was probably wild-collected. I detest that practice! I could go and dig plants night and day around here, but prefer to buy instead. I am pretty sure I got mine at Lowe's. At the same time I got a white trillium and a pink lady's slipper. They were all in very small packets and on clearance. The lady's slipper came up the first year and then disappeared. The trillium still blooms and has seeded around.
Anyway, thanks for the information!

Sadly, I hit that one on the head if you bought your plants from Lowes. Lowes, Franks (now out of business), and few other mega retailers as well as several chain nurseries continue to be forces with which to contend. Orchids and Tall Pitcher plants (Sarracenia complex) are being hit the hardest but next in line would be Trillium and Jacks for wild collecting. Ask Lowes the source of their Tillium, Jacks, and the Lady Slippers that you bought. They won't tell you, at least they didn't tell me back a few years ago when I asked. You can call as many times as you want... and they won't tell you. Call corporate and check it out. Although there are numerous nurseries out there that do not subscribe to these unorthodox practices, the ones that do far out number those that don't. As indicated in the excerpt below regarding propagation of these species, "present methods are slow, tedious, and commercially unprofitable". This, and this alone, drives the industry to wild collect to insure that prices remain artificially low to entice buyers to purchase their plants. Supply and demand. We demand these types of plants to be provided "affordably' and they cater to our demands. What we are doing is systematically and methodically wiping out native communities of plants.

Note, most of the Carnivorous Plants (Sarracenia in particular as well as Venus Fly Traps) out there commercially available are no longer field collected and are in fact being nursery propagated by at least one wholesaler and I believe it is AgroStarts. To the best of my knoweldge, this is not so for the other species of North American plants being offered by retailers such as Lowes.

Susan, if you pm me and give me your full name and address, I will send you a few Arisaema Atrorubens Var. Zebrinum, my treat. Evidently you can meet their cultural requirements and they will thrive. Hopefully, you get them going good in the years to come and spread them to others who want them. This is how we save these plants, we either purchase from from reputable nurseries that don't offer wild collected stock or we propagate them ourselves and pass them on to other concerned individuals and try to flood the market to drive the prices down to the extent that it isn't worth it for them to offer these species any longer. It's working with carnivorous plants. It can work for other species as well. If you would like to try Lady Slippers again, I can give you the names of nurseries that are actually propagating them and aren't hiding behind a technicality to be able to say they are propagating them.

An excerpt from the book "Trilliums" written by Frederick W. Case, Jr. and Roberta B. Case

"Commercial Digging of Wild Trilliums. Commercial collecting from wild trillium populations is not a good situation, as repeated collecting of a given area can deplete parental stocks or eliminate a rare species. Nursery propagation certainly is preferable and a better conservation practice.

Some propagation techniques are available, but present methods are slow, tedious, and commercially unprofitable ... Some native plant dealers offer trillium rhizomes in quantity lots at wholesale and retail. Most do not state the origin of their plants; some call them "nursery stock." To our knowledge, no true commercial quantity "propagation" takes place at the present time. The reader must realize that the term "nursery stock" may be misleading. In some states or other legal districts, wild-collected material can be kept in beds or rows for a specified period of time and then be classed as nursery stock. If no laws covering the situation exist, dealers can call these plants what they may. Most trilliums offered today were collected in the wild. When taken legally from areas slated for development, we have no objection. In fact, we encourage legal rescue operations where the plants will otherwise be destroyed anyway. It is better that the gene pool be maintained in cultivation than totally destroyed. What we object to is illegal mass collecting from wild lands.

On the other hand, the amount of wild trillium material collected and sold or exported does not, so far as we can determine, approach the numbers given by zealous conservationists, conservation lobbyists, and those who seek to block export of all trilliums or to make a political issue of collecting them ... We do not condone mass commercial collecting from the wild. Threatened and endangered species of all wildlife should be protected by law, but we also believe there should be legal means by which properly qualified, trained botanists and horticulturists can bring into cultivation seed or selected, choice individuals of desired species, multiply them, and make them available to commercial sources so that anyone interested in these beautiful and worthy garden subjects can obtain them ...

Commercial Lumbering Techniques. The type of commercial lumber harvesting utilized can have a big influence upon native wild plant populations ... A new and, to many biologists, disturbing lumbering practice has appeared and is widely utilized in the southern United States and now in northern large private lumber company lands. In this method, the area is clear-cut. All sizes of timber may be utilized: anything not of high quality is chipped for chipboard. No trees are left. Then, the land may be burned to kill brush and eventually sprayed with herbicide "to kill weed trees." Finally, special trees, often hybrids or exotic species, are planted for a future timber harvest. This cut, slash, burn, and herbicide practice takes an enormous toll upon some native plants, alters the paths of natural succession, and may exclude the return of some native plants. For the more delicate natives, lady's slippers and other wild orchids, as for trilliums, the full effect on their populations is unknown. Any practice that totally alters a habitat usually takes out all individuals of a species dependent upon it, both adults and seedlings. With today's technology, massive machinery, and aerial spraying of vast areas with powerful herbicides, we are concerned about the impact on trilliums and other native plant populations ...
"Legal Protection of North American Trilliums"
In spite of all the dire talk and a few problem situations, most American Trillium species seem to be holding their own at present. Within the sometimes limited distributional ranges, if one enters the proper habitat, the species will be present, usually frequent, and, in the case of T. grandiflorum , T. erectum , T. sessile , and T. recurvatum , and many others, locally abundant. Many species thrive not only in mature forest, but also in second-growth forest and brushland, and some can invade fallow fields. Except for the species identified under the U.S. Endangered or Threatened Species Act, just a few Trillium species of very limited natural distribution may, at present, be in trouble. Only in urban areas, developments, some commercial lumber tracts, and areas of excessive human or deer population do most trilliums truly suffer and their numbers decline. With continued human population growth and all its demands upon the land, we can expect that wildflower populations of all types will be increasingly stressed and damaged. We ought to set about now, before they become endangered, to protect our native plant treasures for the future."

Hmmm...I read your PM first and then this. Certainly I would LOVE to have more Arisaemas! And I promise to keep them thriving.

I read with despair the comments you made about clearcutting. We have fallen prey to a chip mill here in our area and a whopping 20,000 acres right by us is being decimated now. It makes everyone cry to see the utter destruction, the erosion, the displaced wildlife. We are being practically overrun with birds, raptors, squirrels, chipmunks,opossums, skunks, etc that I think are coming from the clearcut areas. I wish I had the time and permission to go in and save the native plants. They will be cutting all the way to a major river and I know there are many unique plant habitats that will be permanently lost.
Here is a green dragon that a friend let me rescue from a home site slated for "renovations":
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/19604/
It has multiplied and I think there are about 6 out there now.
I would be happy to work with you to save our native flora!
Susan

Oh my gosh, you are in Missouri. I know somebody who actually needs local genotype of Green Dragon for a project. The rescued Green Dragons wouldn't be going to me though. Would that be ok with you?

The clear cutting comments were written by Frederick W. Case, Jr. and Roberta B. Case. They were an excerpt from their book, "Trilliums.

Lauren, I so much enjoy your post. I used to be more attentive to names and such also, but forgetting exactly what you can't remember helps.
sidney

Hello There Sidney! How be you? Have you pulled a weed today?

Lauren, what does your friend need from the green dragon? A plant? Seeds? Only one of them tried to set seed and the seeds I had going last year fell prey to a bunch of nasty sow bugs. Maybe I could wrap the seed head in netting or something? I have never seen any green dragons in the wild here (and we hike a lot). Here are my three sources of green dragon:
1) My sister gave me a small piece once...it is in my unimproved woodsy area and has not thrived but has not died, either. It was from the House Springs, MO area. Guess I should add more leaf mold to that area.
2) The big one I sent you the link for is one I got from my friend was in town and was probably mailordered at some point. The old woman who lived there planted all sorts of curiosities that she ordered. When the house was sold, my friend (the temporary owner) said the new owners were going to do a lot of "clearing out" , so I should take something if I wanted it. Wish I had taken them all...there were about 4 great big ones like that. That has been 2 years ago. So that green dragon could have been mailordered or something she got locally; I cannot say with any surety. It is the one that has multiplied.
3) I may have a local genotype. It is a seedling that came up this spring in some ground mulch from a tree trimming service. Of course, it just sprouted so it is too small to make seed yet.
If you want to give my name to your friend I will help her if I can.
You might have to give me some pointers on seed harvesting, ha.
Susan

Hi Susan, friend is a him. He lives in MO. Unfortunately, he can only use local genotype. And... he is a genotype snob as I offered him one of my Green Dragon plants from up north here and he turned his nose up at my seed! Plant snobs, I tell ya... you can't live with them and you can't live without them! Just kidding. he's working on a project that is dictating he use local seed only and he can't exceed a 100 mile raduius. I can still give you tips on sowing seed for your Green Dragon though ;) Then you can pass it around! It's a great plant.

Gosh, you got a seedling of Green Dragon in your mulch. I never, and I mean never, get anything but weeds in my mulch. Lucky you.

Ha, well I got a lot of Virginia Creeper seedlings, too! And ash trees galore. As long as it doesn't contain poison ivy (my namesake), I don't really care. Mulch is wonderful stuff. A sawmill near here is selling a huge truckload for $10 and I got a load of finely shredded pine bark from them this year.
I would love tips on collecting and sowing green dragons. I see 2 of them preparing to flower now.
Would the jack in the pulpits use similar practices?

You have a few choices for both the Jacks and the GDs which can be germinated the same way.

Wait until the berries turn red and then broadcast them yourself into areas that you want them to populate and do nothing else as you will get germination.

Wait until the berries turn red which around me is sometime the end of September but October is a possibility too. You might be considerably earlier. I'd clean the pulp off but some people don't bother. They stick them in plastic box about the size of a shoe box with drain holes (you can easily drill drain holes yourself) in soil that is damp, not moist. Place cellophane over the top and rubber band it off to keep the humidity in over winter. Now set it out on your patio for the winter and you'll get an even higher germination rate. Check on them at least once a month and if they seem dry, spritz them with a spray bottle of water. The rubberbands usually don't last and you'll probably have to replace them. They'll snap and go boing across the patio. Sometime in March go and take off the cellophane and just make sure the soil remains damp and not wet or dry. Once you see growth, go ahead and start watering. I actually like this method the best as the plants are already hardened off and ready for immediate transplant where ever you want.

Last choice of mine would be to wait until the berries turn red and clean them (redundant detail, sorry). Get yourself some damp (not wet and not dry, another redundant detail, sorry again) sphagnum peat and put your seeds in a sealed container in the lower vegetable drawer of your frig for about 4 months. Remove any seeds that mold and if too many mold over, change the sphagnum. Take them out after 4 months of cold stratification and place them in a container (I fill it with regular old top soil) in front of a window and add a supplemental grow light for about 15 hours a day. Many seeds should begin to germinate in about 6 weeks. But, you are starting seed in doors and many airborn pathogens can get to that seed. You might want to place a fine layer of sand on top of your planting medium before you arrange your seed. After your seeds germinate, begin acclimating them to the outside. You will need to harden them off. This is the part that I find to be a nuisance.

Are we having fun yet?

Toxicodendron is a native here and does benefit wildlife. I sure don't want it in quantity but you have to admit it is a pretty vine and the berries are attractive. I have a few that I didn't destroy on the property. I like them. I just don't like them in a heavy traffic area and one or two would be fine thank you very much. I figured you had chosen that name because maybe you were a fan of the Poison Ivy character from Batman. I guess you see that it has its place too. Parthenocissus is another native that can get a little "pushy". I'd be happy if I got that in mulch but noooooooooo, all I got was garlic mustard. I need more of that like I need a hole in the head.

Yes, the birds love eating the poison ivy berries...then they sprout after the birds mix in a coating of fertilizer...that is why I have so much! I still have a damp field full of it, but I have removed (sprayed, allergic to it) all that I can from the creek and yard because I could not even go in the areas due to the aggressive nature of the poison ivy. I have to get a cortisone shot and take the pills when I get an allergic reaction. Actually, I took the name Toxicodendron because I figured that was one nobody else was using! It is attractive and extremely well suited to my area, so it is a shame that I have such a severe allergy to it.

As to the methods above, I think the first one sounds best! I get the gist of it...cold stratification. I will try a couple of methods if my seeds manage to develop properly. Thanks for the information, Lauren.