Arisarum proboscideum

I first encountered this amazing plant a couple weeks back while having lunch at Demitasse Cafe in Oak Bay. While eating my soup and sandwich I hummed and hawed and eventually decided to bring this strange specimen home with me. (As if there was any doubt) Although it would be well suited for the woodland section of my garden I thought better of it and planted it in a pot in the front.

Arisarum proboscideum is an aroid which makes it a relative of the philodendron and the voodoo lily. It’s leaves are remincicent of any other arum I’ve ever encountered before being that it’s leaves are shaped like the head of an arrow. Arisarum proboscideum is native to Spain and Italy and grows naturally in moist sheltered woodlands. The plant spreads via tuberous rhizome and in the right conditions naturalizes with ease. Some go as far as saying it can be invasive but this seems to be the less preached opinion. The mouse plant flowers in early spring up until summer then goes dormant until things cool off.  This aroid has evolved over the millenium to do a interesting little trick. It’s flower’s mimic a mushroom fungus, both with smell and it’s white spongy design to lure in unlikely pollinators. It’s spring flowers “coincidentally” coincide with the first spring  generation of ready to breed female fungus gnats. The gnats are tricked into laying their eggs inside of the flower head where they inadvertently pick up the plant’s pollen and carry it out with them to other arisarums.

Fascinating!

The mouse plant is hardy from zones 6-9 (with some protection) and is a welcome oddity to the garden. If you have the choice you might want to consider planting it in a raised bed so you get a better view of it’s strange little flowers. On the ground the flowers are covered with a dense coat of leaves and can sometimes be missed. Keep it moist but not waterlogged as there have been stories that letting it dry out could induce a premature dormancy. After you have an established clump the plant is easily divided for you and your friends. Great conversation plant, for both the young and the old.

Some information about this post was found in the book “Aroids: Plants of the Arum Family by Deni Bown”