Arisaema Species, Dragon Root, Green Dragon

Green Dragon grows on our farm in Dickson County, TN out in the sun on pipeline rights-of-way on dry uplands. So, I am not so sure that ...Read Moreit is exclusively the woodland plant that it is usually described as. I have read somewhere, perhaps in Dave's Garden, that the seeds are spread by box turtles who like to eat them. I saw two box turtles by Green Dragons last Fall, though I saw no evidence that they were eating the seeds.

Here in Ames, Iowa, I grow Green Dragons in poor soil in a sunny, hot site that I seldom get around to watering, and they are thriving. ...Read MoreThey stay looking fresh until long after my jack-in-the-pulpits have gone dormant, and everybody who sees them finds them attractive. It took several years for that first plant to form a nice colony, but it was worth the wait. I have no idea why this plant is doing so well under conditions that are supposed to be harmful to a woodland plant.

A modest cluster of Green Dragon has established itself at the brushy bottom of the hill below our house. At least one corm is mature en...Read Moreough to bear a flower along with the usual leaf. Its development is a welcome feature to the very slowly developing shade garden I am installing on the hillside. Like the more usual Hostas, it does not seem to be troubled by the jugulone released by the neighboring Black Walnut trees.

Green Dragon Arisaema dracontium is native to Texas and other States.

The plant name, translated, means: Arisaema: Greek aris, a kind of arum, and haema for "blood" - dracontium: Latin for "of the dragons" ...Read Moreprobably for the deeply divided leaves resembling a dragon's claw.

A beautiful, usually small, native plant, that grows in rich, often wet woodlands, Zones 8-9b. Requires moist soil, high in organic matt...Read Moreer, and prefers a sheltered location, especially from wind, with dappled light in the spring, and shade in the summer. Has "dazzling, bright red berries" in the fall. This info is from "A Gardner's Guide to Florida's Native Plants," by Rufino Osorio, published by the University Press of Florida in Gainesville.

Very similar to Jack-in-the pulpit, except green dragon usually has only one large, long-petioled, compound leaf that is divided into 7-1...Read More5 lance-shaped leaflets and has a greenish spadix which is narrower and tapers up and beyond the less prominent, greenish hood (lacks the distinctive purple striping of Jack) of the spathe. Also like Jack-in-the-Pulpit, this plant goes dormant in the summer, with the mature plants producing red berries which become visible in mid to late summer as the spadix withers. Roots contain calcium oxalate (same chemical as in Diffenbachia or dumb cane) and are poisonous in an uncooked state.