Plantae > Tracheophyta > Liliopsida > Alismatales > Araceae > Orontium > Orontium aquaticumOrontium aquaticum (goldenclub)Synonyms: Amidena undulata; Aronia aquatica (homotypic); Orontium angustifolium; Orontium aquaticum f. natans; Orontium aquaticum f. terrestre; Orontium vaginatum; Pothos ovatus Orontium aquaticum /ɒˈrɒntiəm/, sometimes called golden-club, is a species of flowering plants in the Araceae family. It is the single living species in the genus Orontium, which also contains several extinct species described from fossils. O. aquaticum is endemic to the eastern United States and is found growing in ponds, streams, and shallow lakes. It prefers an acidic environment. The leaves are pointed and oval with a water repellent surface. The inflorescence is most notable for having an extremely small almost indistinguishable sheath surrounding the spadix. Very early in the flowering this green sheath withers away leaving only the spadix. The sheath was originally classified by Adolf Engler as a spathe due it being the last foliar piece before the spadix. He also noted that species |
Edible [1] | May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details. | Flower Type [1] | Hermaphrodite | Hazards [1] | The plant is rich in calcium oxylate, this is toxic and if consumed makes the mouth and digestive tract feel as though hundreds of needles are being stuck into it. However, calcium oxylate is easily destroyed by thoroughly cooking or drying the plant. | Lifespan [1] | Perennial | Pollinators [1] | Insects, Lepidoptera | Scent [1] | A most unpleasant animal smell is emitted from the flowers; | Structure [2] | Herb |  | Height [1] | 20 inches (0.5 m) | View Plants For A Future Record : Orontium aquaticum |
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Northern Baltic Drainages |
Denmark, Finland, Norway, Russia, Sweden |
Palearctic |
Polar Freshwaters |
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Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database |
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0
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