Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Alismatales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Arisaema triphyllum
FAMILY
Araceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Do you have Arisaema or Pinellia?
Learn more about Common Jack in the Pulpit from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Arisaema triphyllum ssp. triphyllum
FAMILY
Araceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Arisaema triphyllum ssp. triphyllum
INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America
Arisaema triphyllum
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Arisaema triphyllum ssp. triphyllum
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of Vascular Plants of NE US & Adjacent Canada (Gleason & Cronquist,1991)
Arisaema triphyllum var. triphyllum
INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 032-05-002:
Arisaema triphyllum FAMILY Araceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Arisaema atrorubens
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Arisaema triphyllum
COMMON NAME:
Common Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Indian Turnip
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA Forest Service / A Guide to Medicinal Plants of Appalachia. 1969 mpa_page_063
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_artrt3_001_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm200321_3291
March Polk County NC
)
JK Marlow jkm230320_1702
March Greenville County SC
Chestnut Ridge Heritage Preserve
)
Alan S. Weakley asw_3431876240383404
April Orange County NC
North Carolina Botanical Garden
Leaves pale whitish-green beneath at maturity (vs A. stewardsonii, acuminatum, pusillum), per Weakley's Flora (2023).
)
Alan S. Weakley asw183837680753463
April SC
Jocassee Gorges
A. triphyllum expresses two color morphs: a purple-spathed variant and...
)
Alan S. Weakley asw686967943429840
April Orange County NC
North Carolina Botanical Garden
...a green-spathed variant - both commonly occurring within the same population, per A Review of Arisaema (Araceae) in North America: Nine species instead of two? (Wyatt & Stoneburner, 2022).
)
Ben Geer Keys bgk124_c
April
Spathe flange much wider than in A. stewardsonii, acuminatum, or pusillum, per Weakley's Flora.
)
JK Marlow jkm200411_3674
April Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
)
JK Marlow jkm200418_3943
April Greenville County SC
Ashmore Heritage Preserve
Spathe hood underside purple or green with white stripes reaching well above the spadix, per Weakley's Flora (2023).
)
JK Marlow jkm200418_3947
April Greenville County SC
Ashmore Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm220421_7086
April Pickens County SC
Nine Times Preserve
What's with the wavy edge?
)
JK Marlow jkm230428_2818
April Greenville County SC
Mountain Bridge Wilderness
)
JK Marlow jkm230428_2821
April Greenville County SC
Mountain Bridge Wilderness
)
Keith Bradley kab_a_triphyllum_03089
April Greenville County SC
Caesars Head State Park
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_a_triphyllum_tri
April
)
JK Marlow jkm0305s_21
May Haywood County NC
Corneille Bryan Native Garden
)
JK Marlow jkm0305z_10
May Rutherford County NC
Chimney Rock Park
)
JK Marlow jkm0305z_11
May Rutherford County NC
Chimney Rock Park
)
JK Marlow jkm160502_057
May Macon County NC
A plant that can change gender from one year to the next [here female], per Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011).
)
JK Marlow jkm220517_7833
May Greenville County SC
Blackwell Heritage Preserve
)
Teri Nye nye_1378_web
May Macon County NC
Spathe hides the tiny flowers at spadix base (male on left, female on right).
)
Teri Nye nye_1456
May Macon County NC
)
Ben Geer Keys bgk124_b
May?
)
JK Marlow jkm190618_9286
June Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
Arisaema's leaflets are pinnately veined; Trillium leaves are parallel-veined.
)
JK Marlow jkm190618_9287
June Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
The inflorescence is overtopped and often hidden by the 1-2 leaves, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm230619_4116
June Greenville County SC
Blackwell Heritage Preserve
)
Patrick D. McMillan pdma_triphyllum
June Somerset County ME
)
Ben Geer Keys bgk124_a
July
In cultivation
)
JK Marlow jkm060704_004
July Pickens County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm160707_219
July Spartanburg County SC
Chinquapin Greenway
)
JK Marlow jkm200703_6351
July Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
Normally a pair of leaves, each palmately divided into thirds, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
Tim Spira tps_atriphyllum
July
)
JK Marlow jkm160818_621
August Polk County NC
Pearson's Falls
)
JK Marlow jkm080924_121
September Haywood County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
)
JK Marlow jkm210907_3576
September Greenville County SC
Blackwell Heritage Preserve
)
Tim Spira tps_atriphyllum_frts
October
The bright red berries are found clustered at base of the spadix in autumn, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Arisaema triphyllum
FAMILY
Araceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Arisaema triphyllum ssp. triphyllum
FAMILY
Araceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Arisaema triphyllum ssp. triphyllum
INCLUDED WITHIN
Flora of North America
Arisaema triphyllum
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Arisaema triphyllum ssp. triphyllum
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of Vascular Plants of NE US & Adjacent Canada (Gleason & Cronquist,1991)
Arisaema triphyllum var. triphyllum
INCLUDED WITHIN
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 032-05-002:
Arisaema triphyllum
FAMILY
Araceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Arisaema atrorubens
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Arisaema triphyllum
124
Forb
Perennial
Reversibly dioecious, or monoecious
Habitat: Mesic forests, bottomlands, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Palmately compound: 3 leaflets
Basal
FLOWER:
Spring
Spathe hood underside purple or green with white stripes reaching well above spadix
Inflorescence a spadix (clavate and blunt, included in the spathe)
FRUIT:
Summer
Red
Berry
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- All About South Carolina Wildflowers (Midgley, 1999) p103
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006) p224
- Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p129
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p103
- Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers (Campbell, Hutson, Sharp, & Hutson, 1962) p036
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p296
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p453
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p036
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p470
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p128
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p156
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p012
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p364
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p338
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p390
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011) p335
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p003
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".