Orontium aquaticum (Golden club)

Orontium aquaticum L.

Golden club, floating arum, never-wets, tawkin

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Liliopsida	Monocots (plants with a single seed leaf); includes the lily family
Subclass	Alismatidae	Aquatic and marshy plants
Order	Alismatales	Herbaceous flowering plants found in marshy habitats
Family	Araceae	Arum family, with plants whose flower is enclosed in a spathe
Genus	Orontium	The Dave’s Garden Botanary website says that this is named for the region of the Orontes River in Syria, from which came a Greek name orontion which was applied to some aquatic plant
Species	aquaticum	Found in the water, relating to water

About plant names...

Golden club is native to the eastern United States, found in ponds, streams, and shallow lakes.

Plants: These unusual-looking aquatic plants are hard to mistake. Plants grow in shallow water or float in deeper water, reaching 12-24" (30-60 cm) in height above the water line. They are emersed—rooting underwater, but otherwise above the water line.

Leaves: Whorled, strap-like, velvety, water-repellant, oblong-elliptic, 5-18" (12-45 cm), with parallel veins. Leaf undersides are pale and silvery.

Flowers: Gold-colored flowers appear at the tips of long, white, naked, erect spadixes. The yellow tips are fertile regions. Flowers themselves are tiny, also yellow, appearing from Apr-Jun.

Fruits: Green flesy berries.

Edibility: Poisonous Skull & Crossbones . All parts of the plant are poisonous. Symptoms include burning and swelling of lips, tongue, and throat; and nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Contact with cell sap may cause skin irritation. Seeds and roots are edible with careful preparation and proper harvesting time.

Online References:

Orontium aquaticum on

Orontium aquaticum on plants.ces.ncsu.edu

Orontium aquaticum at the University of Florida IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants

Orontium aquaticum at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Orontium aquaticum on www.cumauriceriver.org

References:

Clemants, Steven; Gracie, Carol, Wildflowers in the Field and Forest, Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 228

Orontium aquaticum description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 25 May 2020.

5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts
≈ 31 × 21" (78 × 52 cm)

5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts
≈ 17 × 12" (44 × 29 cm)

5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts
≈ 31 × 21" (78 × 52 cm)

12/12/2020 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts

Range:

About this map...