Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Arum italicum
Common name
Italian Arum
Family
Araceae
Where found
Urban bushland, gardens, and stream banks. Coastal, mainly in the Sydney area. Rarely elsewhere. Doubtfully naturalised in the ACT.
Notes
Introduced perennial herb to about 0.5 m high, rhizomatous. Fruit fleshy. Leaves appearing basal, about 20-30 cm long, to about 180 mm wide, arrow head shaped, deep glossy green marbled with white. New leaves emerge in autumn and remain evergreen in warm winter climates, dying back in colder climates and emerging again in early spring. Male and female flowers on the same plant. Individual flowers small, with 0 petals. Spathe subtending and partially enveloping the flower spike like a hood, to about 28 cm long, green below, the expanded upper part creamy. Flower spike yellowish, much shorter than the spathe. After flowering, the leaves and spathe die back leaving only the flower spike, which develops fruit. Fruit orange-red; more or less oval, each about 10 mm long, in naked cylindrical clusters. Flowering: Early spring. Poisonous.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Arum~italicum (accessed 28 April 2021)
Missouri Botanical Garden description: http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=y760 (accessed 28 April 2021)
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