(See cuckoo pint.)
In June and July the thick-set club, studded over with bright
berries, becomes conspicuous, to attract hungry woodland rovers
in the hope that the seeds will be dropped far from the parent
plant. The Indians used to boil the berries for food. The
farinaceous root (corm) they likewise boiled or dried to extract
the stinging, blistering juice, leaving an edible little
"turnip," however insipid and starchy.
The GREEN DRAGON, or DRAGON-ROOT (A. Dracontium), to which Jack
is brother, is found in similar situations or beside streams in
wet, shady ground, and sends up a narrow greenish or whitish
tapering spathe, one or two inches long, enwrapping a slender,
pointed spadix, that projects sometimes seven inches beyond its
tip. Within, tiny pistillate florets are seated around the base,
while on the staminate plants the inflorescence extends higher. A
large, solitary, dark green leaf, divided into from five to
seventeen oblong, pointed segments, spreads above. Large ovoid
heads of reddish-orange berries are the plant's most conspicuous
feature.
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