Editing Arum maculatum (section)

==Description==
The leaves of ''A. maculatum'' appear in the spring (April–May in the northern hemisphere, October–November in the southern hemisphere) and are 7 to 20&nbsp;cm long.<ref name="Stace">{{cite book|title=New Flora of the British Isles|first=Clive|last=Stace|date=2005|edition = 2nd|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=778}}</ref> These are followed by the flowers borne on a poker-shaped [[inflorescence]] called a ''[[spadix (botany)|spadix]]'', which is partially enclosed in a pale green [[spathe]] or leaf-like hood. By relative inflorescence height, ''Arum'' species are divided into "cryptic" species, whose inflorescences are borne on a short peduncle amid or below the leaves, and "flag" species, whose inflorescences are above leaf level at the end of long peduncles. ''A. maculatum'' is a cryptic species.{{sfn|Gibernau|Macquart|Przetak|2004|p=152}} The spathe can be up to 25&nbsp;cm high and the fruiting spike which follows later in the season may be up to 5&nbsp;cm.<ref name="Stace"/> The flowers are hidden from sight, clustered at the base of the spadix with a ring of female flowers at the bottom and a ring of male flowers above them. The leaves may be either purple-spotted (var. ''maculatum'') or unspotted (var. ''immaculatum'').

Above the male flowers is a ring of hairs forming an insect trap. Insects, especially owl-midges [[Psychodidae|''Psychoda phalaenoides'']],<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.watsonia.org.uk/Wats18p333.pdf |title=The pollination of Arum maculatum L.- a historical review and new observations |author=Lack, A.J. |last2=Diaz |first2=A. |year=1991 |journal=Watsonia |volume=18 |pages=333–342 |accessdate=2012-02-15 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109133219/http://www.watsonia.org.uk/Wats18p333.pdf |archivedate=2009-01-09 }}</ref> are attracted to the spadix by its faecal odour and a temperature up to 15&nbsp;°C warmer than the ambient temperature.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hemming |first1=F. W. |last2=Morton |first2=R. A. |last3=Pennock |first3=J. F. |title=Constituents of the unsaponifiable lipid fraction from the spadix of ''Arum maculatum'' |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |date=22 October 1963 |volume=158 |issue=972 |pages=291–310 |doi=10.1098/rspb.1963.0049|jstor=90493|bibcode=1963RSPSB.158..291H}}</ref> The insects are trapped beneath the ring of hairs and are dusted with [[pollen]] by the male flowers before escaping and carrying the pollen to the spadices of other plants, where they pollinate the female flowers. The spadix may also be yellow, but purple is the more common.
[[File:Arum maculatum 03 ies.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Poisonous berries]]
In autumn, the lower ring of (female) flowers forms a cluster of bright red, [[Berry (botany)|berries]]  up to 5&nbsp;cm long<ref name="Stace"/> which remain after the spathe and other leaves have withered away. These attractive red to orange berries are extremely poisonous.

The root-tuber may be very big and is used to store [[starch]]. In mature specimens, the tuber may be as much as 400&nbsp;mm below ground level.

[[Image:Diagram of Arum Maculatum.png|thumb|right|300px|1. Leaves and inflorescence, 2. Underground root-stock, 3. Lower part of spathe cut open – showing in succession (from below) female flowers, male flowers, and sterile flowers forming a ring of hairs borne on the spadix, 4. Spike of fruits]]
Many small [[rodent]]s appear to find the spadix particularly attractive; finding examples of the plant with much of the spadix eaten away is common. The spadix produces heat and probably scent as the flowers mature, and this may attract the rodents.

''Arum maculatum'' is also known as cuckoo pint or cuckoo-pint in the [[British Isles]] and is named thus in [[Nicholas Culpeper]]'s famous 17th-century herbal. This is a name it shares with ''[[Arum italicum]]'' (Italian lords-and-ladies), the other native British ''Arum''. "Pint" is a shortening of the word "pintle", meaning [[penis]], derived from the shape of the spadix. The euphemistic shortening has been traced to Turner in 1551.<ref name=Grig74>{{Cite book |last=Grigson |first=Geoffrey |year=1974 |title=A Dictionary of English Plant Names |location=London |publisher=Allen Lane |isbn=978-0-7139-0442-0 }} p. 64</ref>

The plant is propagated by birds dispersing the seeds by eating the berries.<ref name=bto>{{Cite web |title=List of berry-producing plants |author=<!--not stated--> |website=British Trust for Ornithology |date= 7 September 2012|access-date=19 May 2021 |url= https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/gbw/about/background/projects/berries/about-berries/list }}</ref> As a seedling the plant has small light green leaves that are not glossy like the mature leaves. At about 5 months its leaves grow larger and glossier. At one year old all of the leaves become glossy and die back. The next year the plant flowers during summer.