Calla palustris

Wild Calla Lily

Wild Calla Lily
Photo © by Earl J.S. Rook

Flora, fauna, earth, and sky...
The natural history of the northwoods

Name:

• Calla, the European name for the plant, a plant name used by Pliny, perhaps from the Greek, kallos (kallos), "beauty"
• palustris, from the Latin, paluster, "boggy, marshy"
• Other common names include Bog Arum, Water Arum, Wild Arum, Dáblík Bahenní (Cz), Kærmysse (Dan), Soovõhk, Seavõhk, Raaked, Arjakõõrikas, Ports, Jooksva-rohi (Est), Vehka (Fin), Lus Buidhe Bealltainn (Gaelic), Schlangenwurz (Ger), Slangewortel (NL), Myrkongle (Nor), Czermien Blotna (Pol), diablik moèiarny (Slovak), Missne, Kalla, Vildkalla, Vild Kalla (Swe)

Taxonomy:

• Kingdom Plantae, the Plants
  • Division Magnoliophyta, the Angiosperms (flowering plants)
    • Class Liliopsida, the Monocotyledons
    • Subclass Arecidae, the Arum
      • Order Arales, the Arum
        • Family Araceae, the Arum
          • Genus Calla, the Calla Lilies
• Taxonomic Serial Number: 42546

Description:

• A hardy perennial swamp or bog plant, creeping in and out of the water.
• Leaves glossy, heart-shaped, up to 6" long, rising on 8"-12" stems from long underwater rhizomes. Lateral veins curved-ascending, parallel.
• Rhizomes creeping at or near surface, elongate, ¼"-1" in diameter
• Roots adventitious, arising from nodes.
• Flower a white petal-like spathe, ovate to elliptic, 1"-2½", surrounding a yellow knob-shaped spadix. Spadix on thick short stipe, cylindric, shorter than spathe, apex rounded. [Photo] The spadix contains the true flowers. Often fertilized by snails that laboriously crawl up and down the stems of one flower after another, attracted by a rather unpleasant smell.
  • Sepals absent
  • Petals absent
  • Stamens 6
• Fruit bright red, pear-shaped berries, 5mm-10mm, covering the spadix in fall
• Seed brown with dark spots at one end, cylindric, 3mm-5mm.

Identification:

• A waterside plant of shallow waters and muddy shores.
• Distinguished from other native aquatic plants by its glossy leaves and distinctive flower.

Distribution:

• Circumboreal; Alaska and Canada, south to Maryland, Indiana, Iowa, and North Dakota. Also Eurasia.
• Common in BWCA along calm shores, ponds, slow moving streams, seepages [Photo, Wild Calla in bloom below Hustler Lake, BWCAW]

Habitat:

• Bogs, marshes, wooded swamps, and marshy shores of rivers, ponds, and lakes

Associates:

• Trees: Tamarack (Larix laricina), Black Spruce (Picea mariana)
• Shrubs: Bog Rosemary (Andromeda glaucophylla). Bog Birch (Betula pumila), Leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata), Bog Laurel (Kalmia polifolia), Large Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon), Small Cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccus), Sweet Gale (Myrica gale)
• Herbs: Wool Fruited Sedge (Carex lasiocarpa), Round Leaf Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), Cotton Grass (Eriophorum spp.), Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor), Purple Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea)
• Ground Covers: Sphagnum Mosses (Sphagnum spp.)
• Mammals: Moose (Alces alces)
• Birds: Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

History:

Uses:

• Plants are sometimes sold in aquatic garden catalogs for ornamental plantings in bog gardens.

Reproduction:

• Reproduces by seed and vegetatively by rhizomes
• Flowers late spring-summer

Propagation:

• By rhizome division after flowering
• By seed, separated from the pulpy berries and planted immediately in a moist sphagnum moss and topsoil mix.

Cultivation:

• Hardy to USDA Zone 2 (average minimum annual temperature -50ºF)
• Cultural Requirements
• Sun full
• Soil muddy, acidic (pH of 5.0 to 6.5)
• Water 2"-6" deep, still (running water disturbs the roots), with the leaves above water level.

Links:

• Den Virtuella Floran, Naturhistoriska riksmuseet, Stockholm

Comments:

• A favorite of raccoons when planted in the water garden, the Calla is often the first plant to be torn up and/or chewed up by the masked marauders.