Arum

The exotic looking arums are in the family Araceae, often with arrowhead-shaped (sagittate), attractively patterned, or coloured leaves. All of which have an unusual flowering arrangement. Small flowers, are on a club-like spadix, male above, female below, surrounded by a large hood-like often highly coloured spathe. It may even change from year to year, with all the flowers being male or female! Normally you won't see the flowers, as the spathe completely hides the them and much of the spadix. Insects (mostly flies) are attracted to the flowers often by scent (from 'rotting meat' in several species to lemony in A. creticum) and heat generated chemically within the flower. However the flies go unrewarded for their pollination services as the plants produce no nectar. If pollinated, the spathe will eventually shrivel, revealing a spike of often coloured berries, which are toxic to mammals, but birds eat them with impunity once ripe.