Bulbs Arisaema

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Where the garden meets the wild
ARISAEMA COBRA LILY, DRAGON ARUM, JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT Araceae (Arum family) 天南星属
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Photograph © Paige Woodward

Once you have arisaemas in your garden, you will wonder how you did without them. These elegant tubers prefer moist but fast-draining organic soil and dappled or part-day shade. Arisaemas resemble carnivorous plants, but they attract flies and other insects as pollinators, not food. Their leaves are divided into three or more leaflets. Their fascinating "flower" ~ a pulpit-like hooded spathe enclosing a fleshy, erect spadix ~ usually rises in spring. The sexual parts, borne on the spadix, may be male, female, both or neuter, depending on the species and its maturity. Scarlet berries by late summer or autumn enclose seeds that are scattered by birds and other creatures. Arisaemas from temperate E Asia are proving hardier than anticipated, especially when planted deeply and well mulched. We have beds of many species not listed here coming on. Our tubers are blooming-size. Please order for shipping in autumn. If you like Arisaema, take a look at its cousins Arum and Eminium. You might also be interested in other large shade plants, such as Podophyllum. For enthusiasts, here are our primary Arisaema resources.

Photograph © Guy Gusman Photograph © S. Pradhan	Arisaema album N.E. Brown. Section Fimbriata. Threatened in the wild and recent in cultivation, this treasure with a bristly spadix-appendage is native to the humid, vanishing forests of Meghalaya, Manipur and perhaps elsewhere in the hills of northeastern India. Related plants in Thailand are now considered to be A. maxwellii W.L.A. Hetterscheid & G. Gusman. Most of A. album is green but its name means "white," presumably a reference to the white patch on the hood (or limb) where it arches above the pulpit. Height 50 cm (20"). Hardiness not certain; start by cosseting this in a cool glasshouse. Not available this season.

Photograph © Guy Gusman Photograph © S. Pradhan	*Arisaema barnesii* C.E.C. Fischer. Section Sinarisaema. This short, green and white plant is native to mountain rainforests in southern India and Sri Lanka. Both its spathe and its spadix-appendage end in a small knob. Height to 40 cm (16"). Unless you live in the tropics, grow this under glass. Imagine it alone or in a cluster at the winter solstice, on your dining table, emerging from a pile of red glass balls, surrounded by low candles. Not available this season.

Photograph © Pat Woodward	*Arisaema candidissimum* W.W. Smith. 白苞南星 Bai bao nan xing (Chinese);ピンク(Japanese). Section Franchetiana. Among the first in beauty, among the last to rise (June-July). Visitors often exclaim over these plants ~ so delicately marked, so ungrizzled by the heat, and how they do brighten shade! Native to northwest Yunnan and southwest Sichuan provinces in China. Sweetly scented ~ uncommon in Arisaema. Pure white and green-and-white forms also exist, but the spathes of our plants are tinged pink with white stripes. The huge leaves are tripartite. Height 30-50 cm (12-20"). Full sun to part shade. Zone 6, possibly colder. Award of Garden Merit (Royal Horticultural Society) 1993. Tuber. $32.00

Photograph © A.M.D. Hoog	Photograph © Paige Woodward	Photograph © Paige Woodward	Photograph © Pat Woodward
Arisaema ciliatum var. liubaense G. Gusman & E.J. Gouda. Section Sinarisaema. This is the superb garden plant collected by Carla Teune near Liuba, in China's Sichuan province, in 1981. The spathe, striped maroon and white, is distinctively smooth with a long, prominent whip. Known to connoisseurs as "CT 369," it was finally published as a variety in 1999. Stoloniferous, indeed grove-producing. Height 100 cm (40"). Zone 6. Tuber. $20.00

Photograph © Guy Gusman	Photograph © S. Pradhan	Photograph © Jason Nehring	Photograph © Paige Woodward
*Arisaema concinnum* Schott. Section Sinarisaema. 序南星 (Chinese) Concinnum means nicely made or elegant. This stoloniferous, well tailored-looking species is native across the eastern Himalaya, northern Myanmar (Burma), Xizang (Tibet), Sichuan and Gansu. The narrow spathe, held well below the whorled leaf, has a lip tinged either purple or green. The spadix-appendage has a rough knob at the tip. Blooming time is May-June. Height to 1.5 m (5'). Zone 6. Tuber. $16.00

Photograph © Guy Gusman	Photograph © S. Pradhan	Photograph © Paige Woodward
*Arisaema consanguineum* Schott. Section Sinarisaema. 长行南星 (Chinese). This is the most widespread Arisaema, native throughout the eastern Himalaya, western China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. It is correspondingly variable. Diminutive forms and variegated forms exist but our plants are majestic with unmarked leaves; some have spathes that are green and white, others maroon and white. Height to 1.8 m (6'), often less. Zone 5, perhaps colder. Tuber. $16.00

Photograph © Guy Gusman	Photograph © G.M. Pradhan	Photograph © Paige Woodward	Photograph © Paige Woodward
*Arisaema costatum* (Wall.) Mart. Section Arisaema. 多脉南星 Duo mai nan xing (Chinese). The spathe, reddish maroon striped white, has a canopy with narrow side ruffles and a short whip. The tube has purple lips, folded back slightly, and vertical ridges on the inside. The spadix has a whip up to 50 cm (20") long. Above the spathe rises a handsome three-part leaf resembling that of A. speciosum but with very prominent ribs on the underside. Flowers in June-July. Native to central-eastern Nepal and southern Tibet (Xizang). Height to 60 cm (24"). Zone 7, possibly colder. Tuber. $16.00

Photograph © Pat Woodward	Photograph © Pat Woodward	Photograph © Paige Woodward	Photograph © Paige Woodward
*Arisaema fargesii* Buchet. Section Franchetiana. 螃蟹七 Pang xie qi (Chinese). We offered this plant in 2001 as Arisaema fargesii. In 2002 we called it A. franchetianum because aroid specialists Wilbert Hetterscheid and Pascal Bruggeman concluded that AA. fargesii, franchetianum and bogneri are all one highly variable species, franchetianum. In 2003 we returned to calling the plant A. fargesii, to be consistent with the Gusmans. They say fargesii is so close to franchetianum that it "could even be considered a variety" of it, but they still make it separate. Onward! Our plants descend from material collected in China's Sichuan province. Their magnificent spathe, striped blackish purple and white, concludes with a billowing flourish. Their tripartite leaves are similar to those of A. candidissimum but the central leaflet is markedly larger than the other two, like an apron. Bloom time is May-July. Height 60-80 cm (24-32"). Sun to part shade. Zone 6, possibly colder. Tuber. $32.00

Photograph © Pat Woodward	*Arisaema flavum* (Forskåll) Schott. Section Dochafa. 黄苞南星 Huang bao nan xing (Chinese). The spathe is green and white with a Ming-yellow canopy; the tripartite leaves look multi-fingered. It is native to the mountains of Ethiopia, Yemen, Oman, the Hindu Kush, the Himalaya and western China. This clone of garden origin appears to come from China. It is larger, more vigorous and blooms later in spring than many forms. Massed, with its graceful leaves and flash of bright yellow, it makes a good overstorey for smaller Corydalis and other shade lovers. Height 30-40 cm (12-16"). Zone 6, possibly colder. We have offered this plant before as subsp. abbreviatum, a taxon now vaporised. Both the Gusmans and Li and Heng, authors of the draft treatment for the Flora of China, have concluded that this far-flung species is highly variable. The draft treatment rejects any subdivisions of flavum. The Gusmans have dropped subsp. abbreviatum but retained tibeticum, demoting it however from subspecies to variety. There will not be a test later. Tuber. $15.00

Photograph © G.M. Pradhan	Photograph © G.M. Pradhan	Photograph © Guy Gusman	Photograph © Paige Woodward
*Arisaema galeatum* N.E.Brown. Section Arisaema. 檐南星 Kui yan nan xing (Chinese). The spathe of this plant is helmeted (that's what galeatum means) and held well below the tripartite leaves. It blooms near the ground in March-April, then rises to about 30 cm (12"); the spadix has a threadlike whip up to 50 cm (20") long. The leaves resemble those of A. speciosum (which often grows nearby in the wild) but have a white central vein and a double "seam" around the edge. The tuber is also different: egg-shaped rather than cylindrical, and exceptionally heavy: 500 grams (1 lb.) is not unusual in the wild. Native to the Himalaya, from eastern India to southwestern China. Height to 140 cm (55"). Zone 5. Tuber. $16.00

Photograph © Xu Feng-Xiang & Zheng Wei-Lie	Photograph © G.M. Pradhan	Photograph © Jason Nehring	Photograph © S. Pradhan
*Arisaema griffithii* Schott. Section Arisaema. 翼檐南星 Yi yan nan xing (Chinese). The huge, rolled spathe, poised like a cobra and up to 20 cm (8"), wide, rises in April-May, held low under wide, tripartite leaves. The spadix has a threadlike whip up to 60 cm (24") long. Native to open Rhododendron forests, scrub and alpine meadows in the Himalaya from India to western China. Plant this in duff on a well-drained slope, ideally facing west. Height to 60 cm (24"). Zone 6, possibly colder. Tuber. $22.00

Photographs © Paige Woodward	*Arisaema iyoanum* Makino "var. nakaianum." シコクテンナンショウ Shikoku tennan-shô (Japanese, "Shikoku Arisaema"). Section Pistillata. A. iyoanum carries its long-canopied spathe above a tall, mottled pseudostem under one or two leaves divided into 9-17 leaflets. It is native to damp forests and streamsides on the Japanese islands of Shikoku and Honshu. The handsome, dark-spathed form of A. iyoanum that we offer here is sometimes called var. nakaianum. But Gusman & Gusman point out that on Shikoku it grows amid the typical, paler form and that the color forms also vary in their number of leaflets. Thus "the validity of its varietal status must be questioned." Height about 120 cm (48"). Tuber. $40.00

Photograph © A.M.D. Hoog	Photograph © Paige Woodward
Arisaema jacquemontii Blume. Section Tenuipistillata.藏南绿南星 Zang nan lu nan xing (Chinese). Native from Afghanistan to Tibet [Xizang], this is a plant of elongated, El Greco-esque proportions. The deep, narrow spathe, bright green with white stripes, has a hood that rises up instead of curving down, and ends in a long whip. The spadix has a whip, too, long and purple-black or green. Leaves are multi-fingered. Moist part shade. Height 70 cm (28"). Zone 6. Not available this season.

Photograph © Guy Gusman	Photograph © G.M. Pradhan	Photograph © Paige Woodward
*Arisaema nepenthoides* (Wall.) Mart. Section Nepenthoidea. 猪笼南星(Chinese). Nepenthes was the Greek name for pitcher plants. These arisaemas begin to bloom in February-May, before the leaves unfurl. The spathe is then held above the leaves, and usually has prominent "ears" or auricles on the rim of the tube. The auricles vary in size and shape; indeed they may vary markedly on the same plant from year to year. Native to high forest openings and streamside glades from the central Himalaya to western China. Height to 1 m (3'). Zone 6, possibly colder. Tuber. $16.00

Photographs © Paige Woodward	*Arisaema sazensoo* (Blume) Makino. Section Pistillata.ミドリテンナンショウ Kirishimatennan-shô (Japanese). This striking species with a small white "pestle" is native to the Kirishima hills of Kyushu, where our seeds were collected by Jason Nehring. The stock turned out to be quite varied. Here we offer plants with "plain green" leaves. The stem may be red or green. Height to about 50 cm (20"). Zone 6, perhaps colder. Tuber. $20.00

Photograph © Paige Woodward	Arisaema sazensoo, silver-centred leaf. Siblings of the plants above, selected for the splash of white down their leaves. On the left you see an example. Tuber. $25.00

Photograph © Paige Woodward	*Arisaema serratum* (Thunberg) Schott. 细齿南星 Xi chi nan xing (Chinese); マムシグサ Mamushigusa (Japanese). The spathe may be predominantly green or predominantly maroon. Tuber. $20.00

Photographs © Paige Woodward	*Arisaema serratum* (Thunberg) Schott silver-centred leaf. Tuber. $25.00

Photograph © Charles Sale	Photograph © Paige Woodward	Photograph © Paige Woodward
Arisaema sikokianum Franchet et Savatier. ユキモチソウ Yuki-mochi-shô (Japanese, "Snow Arisaema"). Section Pedatisecta. At the top of many wish lists, this treasure rises to display its snow-white, pestle-shaped spadix above five-part leaves in March-April. The pseudostem and spathe are green and maroon in varying proportions. The leaves may be solid green or variegated (sorry, we can't select for you by leaf form; but all these plants carry the genes for both forms). Some sources confuse A. sikokianum with A. engleri, native to China, or A. sazensoo, native to the Japanese island of Kyushu. Their spadices are white, if less spectacular, but the plants are not close kin. As its name suggests, A. sikokianum is native only to the Japanese island of Shikoku, where it grows in leafy forest duff that is damp but never water-logged. Height to 70 cm (28"). Zone 5, possibly colder. Tuber. $23.00

Photograph © Paige Woodward	Arisaema sikokianum Franchet et Savatier. ユキモチソウ Yuki-mochi-shô (Japanese, "Snow Arisaema"). With patterned leaves. Section Pedatisecta. Like the plant above, but the leaves are splashed or striped with white. Tuber. $32.00

Photograph © Pat Woodward	Photograph © A.M.D. Hoog	Photograph © Paige Woodward	Photograph © Paige Woodward
*Arisaema speciosum* (Wall.) Mart. Showy cobra lily. Section Arisaema. 美丽南星 Mei li nan xing (Chinese). Native from Nepal to southwestern China. Blooms April-June (early June with us). The spathe is chocolate-maroon striped white. The chubby, maroon-yellow spadix ends in a kinked whip. The leaf is tripartite and edged in red. Height 60 cm (24"). Thrives with us in Zone 6. Tuber. $16.00.

Photograph © Guy Gusman	Arisaema thunbergii Blume. ナンゴクウラシマソウ, Nangoku-Urashima-sou (Japanese, "Urashima's Herb from Nangoku"). This treasure is recognized by its fat, pale, rugose spadix ending in a long whip. It blooms in April-May, holding its small spathe near the ground under a big, pedate leaf with up to 21 leaflets. Uncommon in the wild, it is native to open woods in SW Japan and nearby South Korea. About the plant's Japanese name: Nangoku is a city on the balmy south coast of Shikoku. For an explanation of Urashima, please see the next entry. Height including leaf 30-60 cm (12-24"). Zone 7, possibly colder. Tuber. $22.00

Photographs © Guy Gusman	**Arisaema thunbergii subsp. urashima (Hara) H. Ohashi et J. Murata. ウラシマソウ, Urashima-sou** (Japanese, "Urashima's Herb") Section Flagellarisaema. Sometimes called A. urashima. This subspecies is similar to the previous one but it has a narrower, dark spadix and usually fewer leaflets. It is native to woodlands in E Japan from Hokkaido south to Kyushu. Its Japanese name alludes to a folktale about a fisherman named Urashima Taro; the very long whip on its spadix is thought to resemble a fishing line. Height 25-40 cm (10-16"). Zone 5. Tuber. $22.00

Photograph © G.M. Pradhan Photograph © Guy Gusman	*Arisaema tortuosum* (Wall.) Schott. Section Tortuosa. 曲序南星 Qu xu nan xing (Chinese). Antennas, anyone? This wonderful plant for the woodland garden starts out about 50 cm (20") tall, but it can eventually attain 2 m (6') and form large clumps. Native from the Himalaya and western China to southern India and Myanmar (Burma), it is highly variable, as one might expect. Sometimes the spadix-appendage is green, other times it is purple. Flowering time is April-July and the inflorescence smells like forest duff, or mushrooms. Our plants descend from Himalayan stock and are hardy to Zone 5, possibly colder. Not available this season.

Photograph © Pat Woodward	*Arisaema triphyllum* (L.) Torr. Jack-in-the-pulpit. Indian turnip. テンナンショウ (Japanese). Section Pedatisecta. Native to damp, deciduous woodlands in much of eastern North America, this is a highly variable species with tripartite leaves. The spathe may be all green, or white striped green or maroon; sometimes all three color forms are found in one population. Our current crop descends from a green and white population growing 7 miles (11 km) west of Little Rock, Arkansas. Wayne Morrow of Little Rock generously sent them to us as tiny, pearl-sized tubers. Blooming time is May-June. Height 60 cm (24"). Zone 4. Not available this season.

Photograph © Guy Gusman	Photograph © Paige Woodward	Photograph © Paige Woodward	Photograph © Paige Woodward
*Arisaema utile* Hooker f . ex Schott. Section Arisaema. 网檐南星 Wang yan nan xing (Chinese). Like its cousin A. griffithii, this beauty blooms under tripartite leaves in April-May. The tube is maroon with raised white ridges; the distinctive arching spathe has broad wings with a short, thick tail at the peak, calling to mind the rear of an elephant in a moiré jumpsuit. At left you see the plant unfurling, the long whip of the spadix wrapped round the leaves. Later the spathe's unique shape and griffithii-like reticulate markings will be clearer. Native to moist mixed woodlands and Rhododendron forests across the Himalaya from Punjab in India to Yunnan in China. The tuber has been a famine food (after special treatment and cooking). Height to 50 cm (20"). Zone 6? Tuber. $22.00

Photograph © Paige Woodward	Arisaema yunnanense Buchet. Section Attenuata. 山珠南星 Shan zhu nan xing (Chinese). Native to western China, Thailand and Myanmar, this variable plant usually has one tripartite leaf, but sometimes the leaf has five parts, or there are two leaves. A yellow-green, white-ribbed spathe with a green spadix rises above the leaf in June-July. Our plants are from seeds collected near Lijiang, in China's Yunnan province. Here you see them as juveniles (centre row) in our nursery. Height in bloom about 60 cm (24"). Zone 6, perhaps colder. Tuber. $25.00

Arisaema resources
	For descriptions and current names we rely mainly on The Genus Arisaema: A Monograph for Botanists and Nature Lovers, second revised and enlarged edition, by Guy & Liliane Gusman, published in 2006 by A.R. Gantner Verlag KG (ISBN 3-906166-37-6). It is available from Koeltz Scientific Books. Also useful is the Interactive Key to Arisaema Species of the World by Guy & Liliane Gusman, Eric Gouda, Pim Bongaerts & Joost van Gijn (2005 onward).
Guy Gusman has shared photographs of some Arisaema species with us, but he has not seen our plants. We take responsibility for identifying the plants we sell and we were recommending the first edition of the book before we received any photographs. He did not request this disclaimer.

This page was updated March 20, 2008.