''Orontium aquaticum'' , sometimes called golden-club, floating arum, never-wets or tawkin, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of flowering plants in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Araceae The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe (or leaf-like bract). A ...

. It is the single living species in the genus ''

Orontium ''Orontium'' , sometimes called golden-club, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. The single living species in the genus is '' Orontium aquaticum'', while the two other described species, '' Orontium mackii'' and '' Orontium wolf ...

'', which also contains several extinct species described from fossils. ''O. aquaticum'' is endemic to the eastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

1. Orontium aquaticum Linnaeus
'' Flora of North America'' and is found growing in ponds, streams, and shallow lakes. It prefers an acidic environment. The leaves are pointed and oval with a water repellent surface. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

is most notable for having an extremely small almost indistinguishable sheath surrounding the spadix. Very early in the flowering this green sheath withers away leaving only the spadix. The sheath was originally classified by

Adolf Engler Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler (25 March 1844 – 10 October 1930) was a German botanist. He is notable for his work on plant taxonomy and phytogeography, such as ''Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien'' (''The Natural Plant Families''), edited with ...

as a

spathe In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

due it being the last foliar piece before the spadix. He also noted that species lacked a sympodial leaf. However, in a 1988 paper Thomas Ray argued that the structure was misidentified by Engler and was actually a sympodial leaf. According to Ray the spathe was missing and not the sympodial leaf. This interpretation was determined based on observations of morphological charactestics namely the appearance of a two-keeled bracteole and its positioning. Despite this, the floral structure is still commonly identified in the literature as being a spathe.Simon J. Mayo, Josef Bogner, Peter C. Boyce: ''The Genera of Araceae.'' 1. published, Royal Botanic Gardens/ Kew Publishing, London 1997,
Full-text as PDF-file
Continental Printing, Belgium 1997). File:Orontium aquaticum 2 - Buffalo Botanical Gardens.jpg File:Orontium aquaticum.jpg

References

Bibliography

*Bown, Deni (2000). Aroids: Plants of the Arum Family LLUSTRATED Timber Press. Orontioideae Flora of the United States Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Araceae-stub