Arum maculatum 'Cuckoo Pint'

[Ex. Co. Durham, England]

Araceae: also known as 'Lords-and-ladies', this is a bulbus perennial of woods and hedges, reaching 50cm, the flowers comprises of a pale green, purple-margined spathe, cowl-shaped and part-shrounding the club-shaped, purplish-brown spadix, on slender stalks, appearing between April to May, these are followed by red berries, in a spike, the leaves are arrow shaped, and sometimes dark-spotted, commonest in the south of the UK, but widespread, very common in Co. Durham.

USES:

WARNING: The plant contains calcium oxylate crystals. These cause an extremely unpleasant sensation similar to needles being stuck into the mouth and tongue if they are eaten, but they are easily neutralised by thoroughly drying or cooking the plant or by steeping it in water.

The tuber can be cooked and used as a vegetable, they have a bland flavour. At one time, the tubers of this plant were commonly harvested and used for food, but they are very rarely used nowadays. The root must be thoroughly dried or cooked before being eaten

Cuckoo pint has been little used in herbal medicine and is generally not recommended for internal use, the shape of the flowering spadix has a distinct sexual symbolism and the plant did have a reputation as an aphrodisiac, though there is no evidence to support this.

GROWING INFORMATION:

The  seeds need a cold stratification, and can be slow to germinate, sometimes taking a year or more. seed usually germinates in 1 - 6 months at 15°c. the slow growth rate is in part due to the seedlings' heavy dependence upon a mycorrhizal association (fungi found in the soil that help the plant take up nutrients through its roots).

HARVESTED:

 

APPROX. 30 SEEDS