Arum lily

Published July 13, 2015 by PAA

Common name: Arum lily, Calla lily, Jack in the Pulpit

Scientific name: Zantedeschia aethiopica

Hazard associated: Ingestion of the leaves causes blistering and swelling.

Notes:

Berries are initially green then turn yellow; may therefore be attractive to children
Commonly grows wild as a weed.
Leaves may be completely green or mottled with white patches.
Other related species may have pink or yellow “flowers”.
Sap may also irritate the skin.

Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zantedeschia

Image credits:

1) “Calla lily” by User:Fir0002 – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Calla_lily.jpg#/media/File:Calla_lily.jpg

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Why use scientific names when they are hard to pronounce and/or hard to spell? What is wrong with common names? Well your common name for a plant is not necessarily the same as the next person's. Mountain Ash is a eucalypt in Australia but a rowan tree in Europe; the name lily is commonly used for many unrelated plants some of which are extremely toxic. Same thing with the common name nightshade.

Scientific names are the same worldwide, no matter what the local language(s) and also they indicate the grouping of species into genera which shows relationships.