Manudev K Madhavan

The genus Arisaema Mart., commonly known as cobra lilies, belongs to the family Araceae and consists of about 207 taxa in the world (Govaerts et al, 2014) with the center of distribution and differentiation in warm to cool temperate regions of Asia. It is represented by 41 species and 9 varieties in India (Karthikeyan et al., 1989), which does not include a few other species described by other authors (Sivadasan, 1983, 1985; Sivadasan & Sathish Kumar, 1987; Rao & Srivastava, 1991; Yadav et al., 1993; Yadav & Janarthanam, 1997; Thiyagaraj & Daniel, 1999; Gusman, 2003, 2006; Sardesai et al., 2006; Punekar & Kumaran, 2010), thus bringing the total number in to 61 taxa in India. However, only 41 species and 3 varieties are reported in the world checklist of Arisaema prepared by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from India (Govaerts, 2010).

       The majority of Arisaema species grow in humus-rich, well-aerated soils in mountain meadows and slopes as well as open spots in lowland to high altitude woods, a few species grow in pure loamy soils in sunny rock crevices. Similar to the related genera of aroid family, most of its species develop subterranean tubers or fleshy rhizomes, from which produce one to several leaves, which are usually either dissected or lobed. The plants produce usually a single inflorescence before or with the leaves. The inflorescence composed of an outer spathe or pseudo petal and an inner spadix, which may be shorter or protruding the spathe like a long thread. The flowers are unisexual, without perianth and tightly arranged on the lower part of the inflorescence axis. The fruit is a, one to several-seeded, berry. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​