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Home  /  Plants  /  Budburst Species  /  Arisaema triphyllum
Phenology Observation Sheet for Wildflowers and Herbs

COMMON NAME

Jack-in-the-pulpit

SCIENTIFIC NAME

Arisaema triphyllum

Plant family

Arum (Araceae)

Plant group

Wildflowers and Herbs

Jack-in-the-pulpit is a woodland understory perennial native to the eastern United States.
1143 reports
135+
OBSERVERS
1143+
OBSERVATIONS
!

Identification hints

The intriguing blossom of this woodland perennial consists of a spadix (this would be Jack) enclosed in a spathe (the pulpit). The spadix is a greenish to purple color and the spathe is green, often with striking purple and white striping on the underside. It has three distinct leaves. The fruits are tiny green berries that cluster on the spadix. The berries turn bright red when they ripen.
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Did you know?

Jack-in-the-pulpit produces needle-like crystals of calcium oxalate called raphides, which is toxic to herbivores.
DISTRIBUTION IN TH U.S.
Alabama , Arkansas , Connecticut , Delaware , Florida , Georgia , Iowa , Illinois , Indiana , Kansas , Kentucky , Louisiana , Massachusetts , Maryland , Maine , Michigan , Minnesota , Missouri , Mississippi , North Carolina , North Dakota , Nebraska , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New York , Ohio , Oklahoma , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , South Carolina , South Dakota , Tennessee , Texas , Virginia , Vermont , Wisconsin , West Virginia
HABITAT
Jack-in-the-pulpit grows in fertile, moist woodlands, partial sun to shade, in humus rich soils. Found from Manitoba south to Texas, and east to the Atlantic Ocean.
ATTRIBUTES
Leaves
Jack-in-the-pulpits have two compound leaves on long stalks (1 to 3 ft; 30 to 90 cm) with three large, oblong leaflets. Each leaflet is 3 to 7 in long, and 1 to 3 in broad. The side leaflets are distinctly uneven (asymmetrical). The leaves emerge after the flowers and extend over the flower parts.
Flowers
The flowers of jack-in-the-pulpit are very tiny, less than a ¼ in (less than ½ cm) and range from yellow to white. Flowers are tightly arranged on a cylindrical, round-tipped spadix (this would be Jack), which is emerging from the spathe (the pulpit), a structure that appears leaf-like. The spathe is green with purple veins, and surrounds the spadix in a cuplike cylinder, with an extension of the leaf-like spathe protruding like a hood over the cup-like opening. The flower produces a rotting smell, to attract its’ fly pollinators.
Fruits
Jack-in-the-pulpit produces a round cluster of small, green berries that turn to bright red by the end of the season. Each berry produces 1 to 5 seeds.
Bloom Time
Jack-in-the-pulpit blooms from March through June.

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