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Common Name: Green Arrow Arum

General Information

Peltandra virginica is a perennial plant that can grow up to 0.30 metres tall.
It is harvested from the wild for local use as a food.

Known Hazards

The plant is rich in calcium oxylate, this is toxic and if consumed makes the mouth and digestive tract feel as though hundreds of tiny needles are being stuck into it. However, calcium oxylate is easily destroyed by thoroughly cooking or drying the plant[].

Botanical References

,

Range

Eastern N. America - Maine to Ontario, Michigan, Florida, Louisiana and Missouri.

Habitat

Swamps, borders of ponds and slow streams[, ].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Habit	Perennial
Height	0.30 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Requires a wet lime-free humus-rich soil by the side of water or in shallow still or slowly flowing water in a sunny position[].
Plants are best grown in clumps[].

Edible Uses

Seed - cooked. A slightly sweetish flavour, resembling parched corn[]. A bread can be made from the dried and powdered seeds, it tastes like corncake with a strong flavour of cocoa[].
Spadix (the flowering stem) and berries - cooked[, , , ]. A great delicacy, but they must be very well cooked otherwise they are poisonous[]. The Indians would boil them for 9 hours[].
Root - must be well cooked in order to destroy an acrimonious principle, see the notes above on toxicity[]. The root is rich in starch[, , , , ] and can weigh up to 2.7 kilos[]. It is highly astringent and has an unpleasant flavour[]. The root can be dried and ground into a powder for use when making bread, soups etc[].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in late summer in pots of soil that are submerged to their rims in water[]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in trays of water in the greenhouse for their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.
Division in spring[]. Larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. We have found that it is better to pot up the smaller divisions and grow them on in light shade in a cold frame until they are well established before planting them out in late spring or early summer.
Stem cuttings rooted in wet mud in the summer[].