familyAraceae
genusCalla

Calla palustris

Linnaeus

Sp. Pl. 2: 968. 1753.

Common names: Water arum wild calla
Illustrated
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 22.

Roots adventitious, arising from nodes. Rhizomes creeping at or near surface, elongate, 1–3 cm diam. Leaves: petiole 6–30 (–40) cm; blade 4–14 cm wide; lateral-veins curved-ascending, parallel. Inflorescences: spathe ovate to elliptic, 3–6 (–8) cm, apex long-apiculate, 4–10 mm; spadix on thick short stipe, cylindric, shorter than spathe, apex rounded. Flowers covering spadix; stamens (6–) 9–12, of 2 types, outer with broad filaments and inner with narrow filaments; ovaries 1-locular; ovules 6–9, anatropous. Infructescences 2–5 × 1.5–3.5 cm. Fruits pear-shaped, 6–12 × 5–10 mm. Seeds brown with dark spots at chalazal end, cylindric, 3–5 mm. 2n = 36.


Phenology: Flowering late spring–summer.
Habitat: Bogs, marshes, wooded swamps, and marshy shores of rivers, ponds, and lakes
Elevation: 0–900 m

Distribution

V22 601-distribution-map.jpg

Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.W.T., N.S., Nunavut, Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask., Yukon, Alaska, Conn., Ill., Ind., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.Dak., Ohio, Pa., R.I., Vt., Wis., Eurasia

Discussion

Plants with two or three spathes per inflorescence occur; this anomaly is recognized as C. palustris forma polyspathacea Victorin & Rousseau. Calla palustris has been reported from Iowa (T. G. Lammers and A. G. van der Valk 1979), but the only specimen is an unreliable record. The species was also reported from Mendocino County., California (A. Eastwood 1900), but the specimen on which this record is based was destroyed (H. L. Mason 1957). Perhaps this collection was an incorrect identification of Zantedeschia aethiopica, the cultivated calla-lily, which has escaped and naturalized in areas along the California coast (see table 203.1).

Preliminary field studies indicate that species of syrphid flies (Sphegina spp., Diptera: Syrphidae: Milesiinae) are especially common on inflorescences, with occasional visits from the widespread flower fly, Toxomerus geminatus (Diptera: Syrphidae: Syrphinae) (S. A. Thompson 1995).

Flour can be made from the seeds (M. L. Fernald and A. C. Kinsey et al. 1958), and plants are sometimes sold in aquatic garden catalogs for ornamental plantings in bog gardens.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"creeping" is not a number."thick" is not a number.

... more about "Calla palustris"
rounded +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
Sue A. Thompson +
Linnaeus +
cordate +
not peltate +  and simple +
pinnate or palmate-netted +  and parallel +
bright green +
ovate;nearly round +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (?) +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (14 cm140 mm <br />0.14 m <br />) +
Water arum +  and wild calla +
underground +
Alta. +, B.C. +, Man. +, N.B. +, Nfld. and Labr. +, N.W.T. +, N.S. +, Nunavut +, Ont. +, P.E.I. +, Que. +, Sask. +, Yukon +, Alaska +, Conn. +, Ill. +, Ind. +, Maine +, Md. +, Mass. +, Mich. +, Minn. +, N.H. +, N.J. +, N.Y. +, N.Dak. +, Ohio +, Pa. +, R.I. +, Vt. +, Wis. +  and Eurasia +
0–900 m +
pistillate +, staminate +  and sessile +
0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (1.2 cm12 mm <br />0.012 m <br />) +
pear--shaped +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
connate +  and distinct +
Bogs, marshes, wooded swamps, and marshy shores of rivers, ponds, and lakes +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br />) +
curved-ascending +
clustered +, alternate +  and solitary +
with sterile flowers +  and naked +
30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br /> (40 cm400 mm <br />0.4 m <br />) +
6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
Flowering late spring–summer. +
adventitious +
dark spots +  and brown +
4 +  and 9 +
cylindric +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
cylindric +
6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br /> (8 cm80 mm <br />0.08 m <br />) +
green +  and white +
deciduous +  and persistent +
ovate +  and elliptic +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br />) +
Illustrated +
embedded in spadix +  and sessile +
connate +  and distinct +
inner +  and outer +
discoid +  and capitate +
hemispheric +
Calla palustris +
species +
floating +  and emergent +