Peltandra virginica: Arrow Arum or Tuckahoe of New World Wetlands

Summary: Peltandra virginica is a New World aquatic perennial of eastern Canada and U.S. wetlands. Green Arrow Arum, aka tuckahoe, has arrowhead shaped leaves.

Green Arrow Arum (Peltandra virginica) at Historic Jamestowne, southeastern Virginia: Maggie McCain, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr

Peltandra virginica (pel-TAN-dra vir-JIN-ee-ca) is a New World wetland plant in the often toxic Araceae family.

The flowering perennial is native to eastern Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec and to the eastern United States, from Maine westward to Minnesota and southward to Florida and Texas.

In the United States, Peltandra virginica is especially common in the Atlantic coastal plain and along the Gulf Coast.

Peltandra virginica is known commonly in English as Arrow Arum, Green Arrow Arum or Tuckahoe (Powhatan: tockawhouge).

Tuckahoe (TUHK-uh-hoh) grows in such freshwater wetlands as bogs, ditches, marshes, ponds, sloughs, and swamps. The aquatic plant needs wet soils, thriving in up to 12-inch (30.48-centimeter) deep standing water.

closeup of Tuckahoe leaves: Robert H. Mohlenbrock/USDA SCS (Soil Conservation Service), CC BY 2.0, via USDA NRCS Plants Database

As an emergent aquatic, Tuckahoe features roots grounded in watery bottoms while other plant parts rise above the water level. Tuckahoe’s root is actually a modified, underground stem known botanically as a rhizome (Ancient Greek: ῥίζα, rhíza, “root”).

Glossy green leaves top slender stems that measure heights of up to 30 inches (76.2 centimers; 0.76 meters).

Arrowhead-shaped leaves easily attains lengths of 12 to 20+ inches (30.48 to 50.8 centimeters).

Tiny, greenish yellow-to-white flowers open profusely from late spring to early summer as spiked blooms typical of the arum or aroid family, the Araceae.

Cylindrical, creamy to pale yellow spikes, known as spadices (spay-DIE-seez), 4 to 8 inches (10.16 to 20.32 centimeters) in length, sport male flowers above female flowers. Flowers exude a musty, resinous fragrance that attracts its primary pollinator, Elachiptera formosa, a small fly in the Chloropidae family of frit and grass flies.

After flowering, oval clusters of green-brown berries emerge lower on spadices, which bend downward from the weight of mature berries into the water.

Seeds, dispersed by floating berries into the water, sink to the bottom, where germination may occur. Propagation also may be effected vegetatively via rhizome division.

As a member of the often toxic Araceae family, Tuckahoe contains toxic calcium oxalate raphides (Ancient Greek: ῥαφίς, rhaphis, “needle”) in foliage and rhizomes that induce burning sensations and painful swelling of membranes and skin in humans.

Native Americans rendered Tuckahoe edible by destroying the needle-like crystals via prolonged cooking and drying.

A cherished delicacy was the natural cocoa-like flavor of berries and spadices.

Tuckahoe prettifies the landscape of the ephemeral stream and vernal pool on the wild western border of my lawn. Backyard gardening also favors the aesthetic display of Tuckahoe's arrowhead-shaped leaves in ponds and pots.

Although occasionally intrigued by the delicious reputation of berries and spadices as tasty delicacies, I focus on Tuckahoe’s natural beauty and leave edibility to avian patrons such as king rails (Rallus elegans) and Carolina ducks (Aix sponsa).

Peltandra virginica in Old Botanical Garden of Göttingen University, Lower Saxony, northeastern Germany: Miguel Andrade, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Green Arrow Arum (Peltandra virginica) at Historic Jamestowne, southeastern Virginia: Maggie McCain, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/vamcmag/4535508910/

Peltandra virginica in Old Botanical Garden of Göttingen University, Lower Saxony, northeastern Germany: Miguel Andrade, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peltandra_virginica_MA.jpg

Peltandra virginica (L.) Schott - green arrow arum: Robert H. Mohlenbrock/USDA SCS (Soil Conservation Service), Southern Wetland Flora: Field Guide to Plant Species (Fort Worth TX: South National Technical Center, 1991), CC BY 2.0, via USDA NRCS Plants Database @ http://plants.usda.gov/java/largeImage?imageID=pevi_002_ahp.tif

For further information:

“Arrow Arum Peltandra virginica.” Illinois Wildflowers.
Available @ http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/wetland/plants/arrow_arum.html

Green Deane. “Tuckahoe, Arrow Arum.” Eat the Weeds > Plants, Roots/Tubers/Corms.
Available @ http://www.eattheweeds.com/peltandra-virginica-starch-storer-2/