WHER'S JACK?

A BEAUTIFUL, CHILL MORNING

JACK IN THE PULPIT...

...ONE OR MORE LEVES WITH THREE LEAFLETS...LOOKS LIKE POISON IVY

Monday, 8:15 AM  44 degrees on the ferry dock, 42 on the back porch.  Wind ENE, light with slightly stronger gusts.  The sky is clear, the humidity 82%, and the barometer stands at 30.36" and has begun to fall.  The temperature dropped into the mid-thirties last night, and I brought the hanging baskets it for safe-keeping.  The banana plant is too heavy to move around much and it probably lost some leaves.  I should have covered it.  Hopefully we are frost-free from now on.
   Jack-in-the pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum, in the Arum Family (Araceae), is native to wet woods and bogs throughout eastern North America.  Most people know of it but seldom see it, as it is only a foot or  two tall, is mostly green and doesn't stand out except for it's unusual flower,  the hood, or scape, of which is green but has a purple and white underside,  and a cylindrical purple spathe of reproductive parts.  If you lift the flower's "hood, " you can see Jack in his pulpit (the flower spathe).
   I had great fun with granddaughter Allison, telling her about my diminutive friend Jack who lives in the front yard.  This resulted in a long guessing game as to who or what Jack was, and finally in looking for him.  She did at last guess that Jack was a plant but was still intrigued with the little guy when she found him in his pulpit.  She also noted that the leaves look like poison ivy leaves, which they do.
   The cylindrical flower spathe is perfect, having both male and female flower parts, but is self-infertile, needing to be pollinated by another plant.  The flower stalk produces masses of berries that ripen to red in the fall.  The berries and other plant parts contain oxalic acid, and are dangerously irritating if ingested, and should be considered poisonous.  The plant is purportedly edible if thoroughly cooked, but I certainly don't know why anyone would wish to do that.
   The Jack-in-the-pulpit in the front yard is evidently a remnant from times past, as I didn't plant it, but it is  rather fun to have it there.