When I was a child, my brother and I would visit our grandparents’ marshes where Jack in the Pulpits were plentiful in the spring, appearing not long after the marsh marigolds were setting seed. We loved the variety. Some were two feet tall; others barely 10 inches, but most flowers had startling burgundy and green striped hoods.

It never occurred to us to pick one, but we often sat down by a few to see what insects might be visiting. My brother was a ‘bug boy’ who wanted to identify the pollinators. Sometimes we would uncover a spotted red eft or three, our very favorite salamanders (they were plentiful then). My brother is long dead but for me not much has changed though 60 years have fled by. Each June I am ‘called’ into the lowlands to look for Jack.

Arisaema triphyllum has to be up there with sundews orchids and other exotic flowers. Last year, in one protected place I go, I found a huge Jack crushed carelessly by someone’s blind foot when I returned to look for the scarlet seeds on this plant that normally appear around the end of July or August.

What I have been noticing is that this once common flower is becoming more difficult to find. I suspect that the last ten years of summer drought may be having an effect on the plants that need consistently wet marshy areas to thrive, and/or perhaps it is the lack of pollinators/or too much foot traffic.

At my cabin I used to have many Jacks but for a while I had bears, and bears love Jack’s root or corm, so I lost quite a few during those years, and more as some deciduous trees fell, naturally exposing the wetlands around the brook to more sun. Jacks need deep shade, plenty of moisture, rich woodland soil, and deciduous trees to flourish.

This plant can be easily missed. Look for three leaflets that stand on top of a tall stem. Early on they can be confused with trillium unless the leaves are looked at carefully. Arisaema leaves have an outer vein running parallel to the margin of the leaf; the latter is missing in the trillium.

Sometimes small colonies can be found with only one or two flowering adults. The spadix or Jack is a column that is protected by a sheath called a spathe or pulpit. The spadix contains male or female flowers, and occasionally flowers of both sexes.

The pollinators crawl beneath the hood and down the column, collecting pollen from male flowers. I remember seeing ‘bugs’ on the Jacks we saw as kids. Recent research suggests fungus gnats may be the most effective pollinators. Jacks cannot self-pollinate. Weird and wonderful is the fact that Jacks can alter the sex of their flowers in one generation.

If sufficient carbohydrates have been stored in the plant’s corm, a spadix that had male flowers may produce female flowers the next year. Jacks can develop little corms that are attached to the parent that will grow into a new plant. They also spread by rhizomes so if you find a cluster of clones you probably won’t find many flowers.

The cluster of fruit is at first a deep green, but these berries will ripen into astonishing colors – scarlet, bittersweet orange, or vermillion. Wild turkeys and wood thrushes, woodland rodents, and some insects eat the berries. Box turtles are rare in Maine now, but they also love the fruit and their gastric systems may aid in seed germination.

If these plants are situated in the right environment and are not dug or otherwise harmed, they can live for twenty-five years.

Jack in the pulpits range from Nova Scotia to Texas but most species reside in Asia, reminding us that all our separate continents were once one huge land mass.

Jacks are not usually browsed by animals because the leaves contain concentrations of calcium oxalate crystals; deer and bears will eat the plants if another forage is not available. Picking the leaves, flowers, or berry cluster will diminish the plant’s ability to store food in its corm. Regeneration will not occur, so please do admire this astonishing flower, but do not disturb or pick any part of these plants.

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