''Arisaema heterophyllum'', the dancing crane cobra lily, belongs to the

monocotyledon Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, ( Lilianae '' sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are flowering plants whose seeds contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. A monocot taxon has been in use for several decades, but with various ranks ...

ous flowering family

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). Also ...

. It is a

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

, rhizomatous herb native to East Asia. It has a spadix

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

and can be recognized by its green

spathe In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also look ...

and comparatively smaller central leaflet. The

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

is often used in Chinese traditional medicine as a treatment for coughs,

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...

, and

tetanus Tetanus (), also known as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection caused by ''Clostridium tetani'' and characterized by muscle spasms. In the most common type, the spasms begin in the jaw and then progress to the rest of the body. Each spasm usually l ...

. It is prepared using

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

and potassium aluminum sulphate for purifying purposes.

Description

The roots are tubular, depressed globose shaped, and around 2–6 cm in diameter. The usually solitary leaves are around 30–60 cm long, with

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), ...

petioles and sheathing adjacent to the pseudostem. They are sedately divided, adaxially dull green and abaxially pale green, and contain 4 or 5

cataphyll In plant morphology, a cataphyll (sometimes also called a ''cataphyllum'' or cataphyll leafJackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Derivation and Accent; Published by Gerald Duckworth & Co. London, 4th ed 1928) is a reduce ...

s and multiple leaflets, ranging from 11 to 21 in number. The central leaflet is 3–15 cm long and 0.7-5.8 cm wide; the outermost leaflets are smaller. The distance between leaflets is around 0.5–5 cm. The leaves have a variety of shapes, such as oblanceolate, oblong, linear-oblong, base cuneate, and apex cuneate. The peduncle of the flower is around 50–80 cm long, and is usually longer than the petiole. The flower also has a spathe tube that is cylindrical, 3.2–8 cm long, 1-2.5 cm wide, outside glaucous, inside whitish green, and its throat is slightly recurved. The spadix of the flower is either bisexual or monoecious and male. In the female part of the bisexual spadix it has a punctate stigma, a distinct style, and a globose ovary that contains 3 to 4 ovules; the male part contains sterile flowers. The anthers of the male spadix has thecae

dehiscing Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part. Structures that op ...

by the apical slits. The pale white sigmoid appendix is 20 cm long, ascending, and gradually tapers from the sessile base to sharp apex. The flowering period usually starts in April or May, and continues from July to September. The fruits are cylindrical yellowish red or red berries that usually have 1 seed.

Distribution and habitat

''Arisaema heterophyllum'' is native to East Asia, including China, Inner Mongolia, Japan, and Korea. In China, it is grown across different provinces except for the Northwest region and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

. In Japan, it is grown in

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

and

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

. The species tends to grow in evergreen and deciduous

riparian forest A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal, Sink (geography), sink, or reservoir. Due to the broad nature of the definitio ...

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s (inland) or

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

where shade is available and moisture is retained. It is closely associated with

flood plains A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudie, ...

and prefers humus-rich and well-draining soil. The tuber is intolerant to low temperatures. In Japan, it is considered a threatened species due to the loss of

along the major rivers of

Kanto Plain Japanese Kanto is a simplified spelling of , a Japanese word, only omitting the diacritics. In Japan Kantō may refer to: *Kantō Plain *Kantō region *Kantō-kai, organized crime group *Kanto (Pokémon), a geographical region in the ''Pokémon ...

Genetics

The plant contains ''Arisaema heterophyllum''

agglutinin An agglutinin is a substance in the blood that causes particles to coagulate and aggregate; that is, to change from fluid-like state to a thickened-mass (solid) state. Agglutinins can be antibodies that cause antigens to aggregate by binding t ...

(AHA), a substance that can cause blood particles to coagulate and aggregate. It was revealed that AHA had negative effects towards the feeding behaviour of the Indian Grain Aphid ('' Sitobion miscanthi''), causing the aphids' lifespan to reduce significantly. Resistance towards Indian Grain Aphids in wheats was observed to have improved after intruding AHA to the plants.

Traditional use of ''Arisaema''

Many species within the genus ''Arisaema'' have medicinal uses in

Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence of effectiveness or ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4069218 heterophyllum