EVERGREEN

Plant Encyclopedia

Arisaema kishidae

Japanese name: キシダマムシグサ (岸田蝮草)
Scientific name: Arisaema kishidae

[Overview]
A perennial about 50 cm tall, found in forests in low hills.
It has an oblate corm underground.
The sheathing leaves and the lower part of the petioles form a pseudostem.
There are usually 2 leaves, each with 5–7 leaflets arranged pedately (like a bird's foot).
The leaflets are obovate to oblong-elliptic with sharply pointed tips, and often have white blotches along the midrib.
The leaf margin is entire or toothed.
The inflorescence stalk is erect, and is often longer than the petiole in male inflorescences and shorter in female inflorescences.
A spadix is borne at the tip of the inflorescence stalk.
The appendage at the tip of the inflorescence is dark purple to purplish brown, club-shaped or rod-shaped, slightly thickened at the tip.
The spadix is enclosed in a spathe.
The spathe is dull purplish brown, sometimes with purple spots; the limb is triangular-ovate, more than twice as long as the tube, with a long thread-like pointed tip.
The fruit is an ovoid berry that ripens red.
The plant is dioecious; young plants are male and change to female as they grow.

[Notes]
The Japanese name commemorates the Meiji-era naturalist Kishida Matsuwaka, and the alternative name Muro-mamushigusa refers to Mt. Muro in Nara.

Details

Names
Japanese: キシダマムシグサ(岸田蝮草)、ムロウマムシグサ(室生蝮草)
Life form
Perennial
Habit
Terrestrial
Similar plants
Flowering season
April, May
Distribution or origin
Japan (Honshu: Aichi, Kinki region)
Height
500 mm
Leaf shape
Lobed leaf
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf margin
Entire, Serrate
Inflorescence
Spadix
Fruit color
Red, Orange
Leaf color
Green, Multicolor
Designated plants
Endemic to Japan

Translated from our Japanese encyclopedia. If anything differs, the Japanese page is correct.

Sponsored