Arum-italicum_23

Description:

Arum italicum Mill., syn.: Arisarum italicum (Mill.) Raf., Arum maculatum var. italicum (Mill.) O. Targ. Tozz.Family: AraceaeEN: Large Cuckoo Pint, Italian Lords-and-Ladies, CR: taljanski kozlac, DE: Italienischer AronstabSlo.: laki kanikDat.: April 22. 2006 Lat.: 44.3749 Long.: 14.7814 (WGS84)Code: Bot_113/2006_DSC0011Habitat: Abandoned fields within a village; semiruderal place; partly overgrown with grass and other herbs, growing under an old Olea europeae; flat terrain; calcareous, red, Karst soil; partly sunny, dry place; elevation 20 m (66 feet); average precipitations ~ 980 mm/year, average temperature 13-15 deg C, Sub-Mediterranean phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil.Place: Island Olib, south part of village Olib, Adriatic Sea, Dalmatia, Zadar region, Croatia EC. Comment: (relates to the album Arum italicum I and II): Plants of the genus Arum are very interesting. A large yellowish leaf spatula - surrounds inflorescence. Flowers are hidden and enveloped by it. Without dissecting the inflorescence one can see only yellow, cylindrical, terminal appendage - spadix - of the inflorescence. Actual male and female flowers are many, very tiny and separated.Two most common species of this genus grow in Slovenia as well as in Croatia: Arum italicum Mill. and Arum maculatum L.. Theoretically it is very easy to separate both. Arum italicum Mill. has yellow spots on its leaves or strips around leaf veins and yellow spadix and Arum maculatum L. has dark, sometimes almost black, spots on its leaves and darker, more or less violet tinted spadix. However, in practice one can find all kinds of 'intermediate' forms. Plants without leaf spots are frequent, and Arum maculatum may have also yellow spadix (when young). There are differences also in leaf shape and the ratio between the lengths of flower's and leaf stalk, etc. However, they all vary very much. So, the determination is not always straightforward.This find shows typically colored spadix of Arum italicum but only some yellowish blotches along the leaf veins. Alternative Arum maculatum is fortunately not present on island Olib, so the determination seems reliable.Ref.:(1) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije, Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007) (in Slovene), p 935. (2) R. Domac, Flora Hrvatske, Prirunik za odreivanje bilja, kolska Knjiga, Zgreb, II. izdanje (2002), p 469.(3) M. Blamey, C. Grey-Wilson, Wild Flowers of the Mediterranean, A & C Black, London (2005), p 503.