cuckoopint, wild arum (Arum maculatum)
By Pertinax
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described by Dioscorides as used for gout.Has been used in a number of unusual ways ,but can cause severe gastric upset .The starch from the plant was used to whiten ruffs in Elizabethen times. Commonly used at various periods of history to "improve the juices from the liver"( spermatozoa).Dont try this at home please the glycosides would make you die vomiting. If cooked for a sufficient time the plant is reduced to a not very exciting starch which can be made into a seriously unappetising bread-this is the very item thrown by Caeser's troops at Pompey's men.
There is an Italian variant -literally-A italiana-which shares the same chemical makeup.
The flowering organs are contained in a sheath-like leaf called a spathe, within which rises a long, fleshy stem, or column called the spadix, bearing closely arranged groups of stalkless, primitive flowers. At the base are a number of flowers each consisting of a pistil only. Above these is a belt of sterile flowers, each consisting of only a purplish anther. Above the anther is a ring of glands, terminating in short threads The spadix is then prolonged into a purple; club-like extremity.
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