Arum are a fascinating genus of hardy aroids, known by most gardeners from a single southern European species, Arum italicum. The most popular cultivar of Arum italicum is Arum ‘Marmoratum’. The key to enjoying arums is to not let the seed drop everywhere, since you can get easily get over-arumed. Flowering season is now, followed by seed season. Each seedling has a different pattern from the original, so it’s a personal preference whether to remove seed or not.
Arum apulum is a little-know species that is rarely seen in cultivation, native only to a small region of Southern Italy. Our flowering plants in the garden now are from a wild collection made by a plant explorer friend.
Below is an interesting hybrid between Arum italicum (central to southern continental Europe) and Arum dioscorides (Mediterranean). Arum italicum has patterned leaves, but solid green flowers. Arum dioscoridis has solid green leaves and spotted flowers. The hybrid, Arum ‘Chui’ is an introduction from UK plantsman John Grimshaw. We added the notospecific (hybrid) name Arum x diotalicum. These hybrids have both spotted/speckled leaves and flowers.
Diotalicum makes sense. (But duotalicum or duetalicum would be more descriptive?)
We were looking for something easy to pronounce….many choices
As I write this, the super-vigorous hybrids between our native Arum maculatum and naturalized A. italicum have started out-competing their parent-species everywhere, here in Odense, Fyn, Denmark. And then you can’t even find a proper botanical name to describe this invasive Arum-hybrid and soon-to-be-nothospecies, when you try to look in the botanical literature & on ‘Internet’…have all the botanists goon to sleep, you think ?!
Fascinating to hear. The natural world is anything but static. Sounds like we need someone to formally publish Arum x macutalicum.