Flowers of Arisaema candidissimum

Lurking in the Shadows: Arisaema

Posted on by Ann Mackay

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Visitors to Fullers Mill can rely on it as a place to see unusual plants. Recently I saw these flowers of Arisaema candidissimum (AKA ‘Jack in the pulpit’ or cobra lily) there, growing in a shady space under some trees. This is the first time I’ve seen this particular plant, although I’ve previously seen a darker arisaema in this garden.

It’s an odd-looking flower, with a tubular, curved spathe that is striped with pink inside. (Sometimes they can be plain white inside.) The outside of the spathe has a subtle green stripe and the leaves are large, strongly veined, and a lush green, which gives the plant a very exotic, tropical look. I’ve read that the flowers have a sweet scent, but couldn’t get close enough to them to experience it for myself. (These photographs have had quite a bit of cropping.)

Arisaema is not a plant that I’m likely to try in my own garden, given that it prefers a rich soil with plenty of humus (although I am working on that one). It also needs reliable moisture and dappled shade (not much of either of those here). I could try to grow arisaema in pots, but I’d prefer not to have something that would resent drying out – it’s too hot here these days!

It’s good to be able to enjoy the sight of an unfamiliar plant when I’m out on a garden visit. Fuller’s Mill is a garden that has rather different conditions to mine, even though it’s not far away from us, so there’s always something that we can’t grow here.

(You can see the darker Arisaema in this post.)

Flowers of Arisaema candidissimum
The pink-striped tubular spathes and large green leaves of Arisaema candidissimum give it a tropical look.

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Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

16 thoughts on “Lurking in the Shadows: Arisaema”

  1. This is my favourite Arisaema, it’s always very expensive to buy. I used to grow it but that was two gardens ago. I don’t have it now. Some arisaemas ae weird rather than beautiful but I think this is gorgeous.

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    1. It is beautiful and I’d be very tempted to try growing it, but the soil here gets a bit like concrete when it gets dry in summer! (I’m gradually trying to improve it but that’s a very slow process.) I think our climate here is too hot and dry, so it amazes me how different Fuller’s Mill is – shows how much work must have gone into improving the soil there and I think that all the trees are a big help in cooling things down. (I also wonder if the rivers there give more moisture to the soil.)
      This was supposed to be Sunday’s post – it got posted instead of scheduled, oops! 🙂

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      1. That explains it.. I was surprised to see your post already! The plant is gorgeous! Our problems are opposite to yours, Ann. You with concrete-like soil in summer; us with slushy-concrete-like muck in winter!

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      2. I was surprised too, Liz, hehe! I have a mini-post for Sunday so that anyone who expects something then will know what’s going on. Our soil is awful at the moment, but I’m not surprised because we’ve had very little rain in a long while. Maybe I need to learn how to do a rain dance! 🙂

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  3. It is quite unusual. I wonder if I could grow it? Arum lilies do grow, though not this year for some inexplicable reason. Then again I am trying to reduce the number of plants I have to make less work for myself!

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    1. I think it would probably be happier in your garden than mine because it doesn’t like to dry out. (It likes a bit of shade too.) it’s worth a try! 🙂 (I am thinking about the future too, and realising that I need to do the work now to simplify things a bit for future me…making access easier to get work done and trying to make less work. Not sure how successful I’ll be!)

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    1. It was the first time that I’d seen these, although I had seen a darker arisaema in the same garden a year or two ago. They’re very striking, but not something that would grow well in my own garden.

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  7. I’ve never seen such a dramatic example! We have a native species, Arisaema triphyllum, that I’ve found in the east Texas woods. I was too late to see the flowers this year, but I did come across some that have begun forming their fruits. There are some photos of our flower and the berries here.

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