Green Arrow Arum
Peltandra virginica

Family: Araceae

What it is like

Peltandra virginica is a PERENNIAL growing to 0.3 m (1ft). See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 5. It is in flower in June. The species is monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant). Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. Suitable pH: mildly acid and neutral soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers wet soil and can grow in water.

Height (m): 0.3

Where it is found

Swamps, borders of ponds and slow streams.

Eastern N. America - Maine to Ontario, Michigan, Florida, Louisiana and Missouri.

Conservation Status:

Countries/locations it is found in

How it is used

Food

Rating: 3

Seed - cooked. A slightly sweetish flavour, resembling parched corn. A bread can be made from the dried and powdered seeds, it tastes like corncake with a strong flavour of cocoa. Spadix (the flowering stem) and berries - cooked. A great delicacy, but they must be very well cooked otherwise they are poisonous. The Indians would boil them for 9 hours. Root - must be well cooked in order to destroy an acrimonious principle, see the notes above on toxicity. The root is rich in starch and can weigh up to 2.7 kilos. It is highly astringent and has an unpleasant flavour. The root can be dried and ground into a powder for use when making bread, soups etc.

Root: includes bulbs, corms, tubers, rhizomes etc.

Seed: includes nuts, cereals, peas and beans.

Medicine

Rating: 0

Other

Rating:

How it is grown

Requires a wet lime-free humus-rich soil by the side of water or in shallow still or slowly flowing water in a sunny position. Plants are best grown in clumps.

Propagating it: Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in late summer in pots of soil that are submerged to their rims in water. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in trays of water in the greenhouse for their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Division in spring. Larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. We have found that it is better to pot up the smaller divisions and grow them on in light shade in a cold frame until they are well established before planting them out in late spring or early summer. Stem cuttings rooted in wet mud in the summer.

Best place to grow: Pond; Bog Garden;

Habit: Perennial

Hardiness: 4-8

Growth:

Soil: Light (sandy), medium, heavy (clay)

Shade: No shade

Moisture: Wet, water

Things to keep in mind

The plant is rich in calcium oxylate, this is toxic and if consumed makes the mouth and digestive tract feel as though hundreds of tiny needles are being stuck into it. However, calcium oxylate is easily destroyed by thoroughly cooking or drying the plant.

Its other names

Local names

Synonyms

P. undulata.