Arum italicum Mill.

Italian Arum

Tubers cylindrical to ovoid. Leaf blades to about 25 cm long, oblong to arrow-head -shaped with prominently pale midrib and side veins; stalk long. Spathe blade 15-30 cm long, white to greenish or violet. Spadix to about the centre of the spathe blade, the appendage to about 8 cm long. Fruit a scarlet berry about 1 cm wide.

Available in a range of variegated cultivars including 'Marmoratum' which has cream-blotched leaves and spathes yellow-green with purple bases.

A. maculatum L., Cuckoo-pint (Lords-and-Ladies), from Europe, A. palaestinum Boiss., Black Calla, (Solomon's Lily) from Israel, and A. dioscoridis Sibth. & Sm. from Turkey, Iraq and Israel, are also occasionally cultivated and easily identified (see key).

Europe, Canaries and Mediterranean to W Asia and NW Africa.

Source: Spencer, R. (2005). Araceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

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Distribution map
kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Lilianae
order      Alismatales
family       Araceae
genus        Arum L.