Arisaema Species, Japanese Cobra Lily, Dominatrix Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Just a few comments. This species is much hardier than described. Of course that depends on the locality of the clone.

The...Read Morere are many flower colors and several forms of this species, and many more to be discovered in Japan. One of the more common ones is the all green (alba) form. Apparently, there are at least few different strains of this form.

Also, A. omeiense is not native to Japan. It is a Chinese species.

Bought these from Heronswood in 2004. They're still coming up, although only one is blooming. STILL...there are baby plantlets growing ...Read Morenear them and that is evidently due to the "colonizing" this species is reputed to do. It was the one successful Heronswood Arisaema species I got.

I spotted this plant growing in some woods on the Yokosuka Naval base (when I was stationed in Japan), alongside a rarely used alley behi...Read Morend the Fleet Recreational center. I knew they were some kind of Arisaema, but didn't know which kind... None of my Japanese friends, whom I showed the photos I took to could tell me what it was. Still, it was interesting to see something similar to what is growing in my hometown (PA), namely Jack in the Pulpit, growing in Japan.

This Aroid is still common in the lowland and coastal forests around Tokyo, where winters are mild and dry (min. -4C, but more often than...Read More not about 3C), spring has non-stop monsoon rains, and summers are hot and humid (35C). I often see it in deep leaf litter in medium to dense shade in deciduous forests, sometimes with Cardiocrinium cordatum and Calanthe discolor.
The single flower emerges at the same time as the single leaf, which has 11-15 leaflets. These die down in mid-summer, but fertilized flowers become beautiful bright red fruit heads in the autumn.

I've never had any problems cultivating it here - it seems immune to pests, even in the wild. The only problem is that plants tend to be either male or female, so you need several in order to get viable seed. Here in Tokyo, the natural pollenators are available; but in other parts of the world, you may have to do it by hand.

Guy and Liliane Gusman, in their excellent new monograph The Genus Arisaema (A.R.G. Ganter Verlag KG, 2003) place this species in Section Flagellarisaema, along with A. kiushianum, A. cordatum, A. auriculatum, and A. omeiense. All are from Japan, and all "...bear a sigmoid spadix appendage ending in a flagellate thread that is usually quite long."

In Japan the fairy tale of Urashima-taro tells of a young fisherman who saves a sea turtle and is taken down below the waves to the castle of the dragon king (or queen - I've heard several versions.) The Japanese name for this plant, Urashima-so, refers to the long spadix appendage - it reminded them of a fishing line...