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Another Indicator of Change…..

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Lords and Ladies

Lets give it the proper  name of Arum maculatum.  Just a little early to show in our garden but still a sign that Autumn is on the way (I know we still have some more summer left). This is the fruit stem which burst from a green leaf cover like a shroud. With the drought and heat the foliage has fallen away very quickly exposing just the stem. This stem is rather squat this season at about 4 inches berry to berry.

It is more usually found in hedgerows and dark woodland areas, a wild plant, but we have a number in shady spots in the garden, self seeded probably by birds, and we are rather proud of them….though visitors do wonder why we don’t dig them up.

Because of the shroud from which the stem emerges it has attracted many names over the centuries. Devils and Angels, Cuckoo-pint, Snakehead, Soldiers diddies, Jack in the Pulpit and a whole host of more indelicate names.

So advance warning that seasonal change has started…maybe the heat and drought is accelerating the move

10th August

(C) David Oakes 2018

10 thoughts on “Another Indicator of Change…..”

        1. Courtesy of Wikipedia. Arum maculatum
          From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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          Arum maculatum

          Scientific classification

          Kingdom:
          Plantae
          Clade:
          Angiosperms
          Clade:
          Monocots
          Order:
          Alismatales
          Family:
          Araceae
          Genus:
          Arum
          Species:
          A. maculatum
          Binomial name
          Arum maculatum
          L.
          Synonyms[1]
          Arum vernale Salisb.
          Arisarum maculatum (L.) Raf.
          Arum vulgare Lam.
          Arum pyrenaeum Dufour
          Arum immaculatum (Rchb.) Rchb.
          Arum malyi Schott
          Arum zeleborii Schott
          Arum trapezuntinum Schott ex Engl.
          Arum heldreichii Orph. ex Boiss.
          Arum maculatum is a common woodland plant species of the family Araceae. It is widespread across most of Europe, as well as Turkey and the Caucasus.[1][2][3][4] It is known by an abundance of common names including snakeshead, adder’s root, arum, wild arum, arum lily, lords-and-ladies, devils and angels, cows and bulls, cuckoo-pint, soldiers diddies, Adam and Eve, bobbins, naked girls, naked boys, starch-root, wake robin, friar’s cowl, sonsie-give-us-your-hand, jack in the pulpit and cheese and toast. The name “lords-and-ladies” and other gender-related names refer to the plant’s likeness to male and female genitalia symbolising copulation.[5

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    1. This year does seem to go from one extreme to another, Just a few months ago we were recording the wettest winter on record…now a heatwave which may stutter over the next week but return before autumn arrives But then again who really knows what is going to happen 🙂

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