(Arum maculatum)
Description and distribution
Lords-and-Ladies is a perennial wildflower plant native to Britain.
Its leaves are arrowhead-shaped and glossy green, growing on stalks. The plant’s leaves begin to appear from white tubers in the ground in spring and it flowers in April and May. The flower structure is comprised of a 10-25 cm long, pale yellow-green spathe — a petal-like modified leaf that surrounds the true flower. The spathe may have purple streaks running up it. The female part of the flower is hidden in the base of the spathe and the club-shaped male part of the flower can be seen surrounded by the spathe. It is initially pale green and turns to a purple-brown colour as it matures.
In autumn, the Lords-and-Ladies’ orange-red berries appear on a stalk from which the rest of the flower has withered away.
Lords-and-Ladies grows in woodland and farmland habitats, as well as in towns, gardens, and along hedgerows.
Ecological interactions
The flowers attract pollinators, especially small flies such as owl midges. The mature flower attracts the flies by releasing a smell and warming up by up to 15°C in the evening. Once they have landed on the spathe flies fall down into its base, where they are temporarily trapped, allowing them to pollinate the flower if they have visited another Lords-and-Ladies flower recently.
The plant’s bright orange-red berries are a food source for several bird species, including blackbirds and thrushes.
Folklore
The plant is associated with fairies, fertility, and British traditional May Day rituals.
It is best to avoid touching the Lords-and-Ladies plant and it should not be eaten as all parts of it are toxic. It contains sharp oxalate crystals, which can pierce through the skin and cause throat swelling.
The plant’s juice may have been used to burn off warts and in other skin treatments. It was also known to have aphrodisiac properties.
