Synonyms

Arum italicum subsp. albispathum (Steven ex Ledeb.) Prime: Arum albispathum Steven ex Ledeb.; Arum orientale subsp. albispathum (Steven ex Ledeb.) K. Richt.; Arum orientale subsp. albispathum (Steven ex Ledeb.) Nyman; Arum orientale var. albispathum (Steven ex Ledeb.) Engl.

Arum maculatum L.: Arum maculatum fo. spathulatum Terpó; Arum maculatum fo. tetrellii (Corb.) Terpó; Arum maculatum fo. karpatii Terpó; Arum orientale (Engl.) R.R. Mill; Arum orientale subsp. amoenum (Engl.) R.R. Mill; Arum pyrenaicum Dufour; Arum trapezuntinum Schott ex Engl.; Arum vulgare Lam.; Arum zelebori Schott

Local Names

Allium italicum: Georgian: (niuk’a), (dach’rila), (kalak’oda); (Qalakoda).

Allium maculatum: Svan: (qalakoda); Russian: Аройник (Aroinik); Azeri: дана-аягы (dana-ayagy); Armenian: конг (kong) (Grossheim 1952; Ketskhoveli et al. 1971–2011; Makashvili 1991; Sokolov 1994).

Botany and Ecology

Arum italicum: Perennial; tuber ovoid to elongate; leaves very large, to 70 cm long, the blade to 23 cm long, with short obtuse lateral leaflets, the petioles very long (twice as long as the blades), forming a short broad sheath at base; scape half as long as the leaf petiole; spathe with an ovate to oblong acuminate limb, very large, white, greenish on the back; spadix half as long as the spathe; summit of spadix cylindrical, yellow, shorter than the stalk. Flowering April–May. Ural, Caucasus, in shady Fagus and Carpinus forests, thickets, shrubland, on grassy slopes, up to the mid-mountain belt (Komarov and Shishkin 1935; Figs. 1 and 2).

Fig. 1
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Arum sp. (Araceae), Georgia. (Photo R.W: Bussmann & N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Fig. 2
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Arum sp. (Araceae), Georgia. (Photo R.W: Bussmann & N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Arum maculatum: Perennial; tuber globular-flattened; leaf blade broadly hastate-cordate, about half as long to as long as the petiole, 7–7.5 cm in length, the lateral leaflets 2.4–4.4 cm, the blade often broader than long; spadix longer than long, dark brownish-purple, greenish-white at base; summit of spadix cylindrical (to 2 cm long), dark reddish-purple, shorter than to equaling its slender stalk. Flowering April–May. Ural, Caucasus, in shady Fagus and Carpinus forests (Komarov and Shishkin 1935; Figs. 3 and 4).

Fig. 3
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Arum sp. (Araceae), Georgia. (Photo R.W: Bussmann & N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Fig. 4
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Arum sp. (Araceae), Georgia. (Photo R.W: Bussmann & N.Y. Paniagua-Zambrana)

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Phytochemistry

Carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, raffinose, sucrose, mannose, rhamnose), alkaloids, vitamins (C), saponins, cyanogenic (trilochinine), phenolcarboxylic acids (coffee), flavonoids (apyrenene, luteolin, glucoside, quercitrin, rutin, orientin, iso-oriene, vitexin, isovitinexin, saponarin) (Sokolov 1994).

Local Medicinal Uses

In the Ural, Arum is externally for eczema, sunburn erythema, herpes, and bleeding gums and insect bites. The decoction is ingested to treat gastritis, bronchitis, heartburn, liver diseases, gout, and hemorrhoids (Sokolov 1994).

Arum maculatum: In Georgia, the leaf extract is used for cancer treatments (Bussmann et al. 2014, 2016a, b, 2017).

Local Food Uses

In the Caucasus, the young leaves are used for herb stew, soups, and salads and the tubers are dried and ground as flour. The plants are toxic and cannot be eaten without processing. Fresh tuber-like rhizomes of Araceae are very poisonous, but boiling and drying remove the poison, so that they can be eaten and ground into flour. In Northern Armenia, young leaves of A. orientale are dried and shortly boiled; broth is removed to remove bitter taste, and leaves are further boiled to make souse of soup. The product is highly valued by population as a delicacy (Grossheim 1952; Sokolov 1994).

In the Tianeti District, ghjimi Chaerophyllum bulbosum L., diq’i Heracleum ssp., khozo Chaerophyllum aureum L., kalta-k’ovza Arum orientale M. Bieb., and Arum albispathum Steven ex Ledeb. stems are pickled.

In Kartli kalak’oda Arum orientale M. Bieb., shavmkhala Amaranthus retroflexus L., kharik’bila /khach’mach’ich’a /odelia-khali Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik., shalgi Brassica campestris L., ghrinch’ola Anthriscus nemorosa (M. Bieb.) Spreng., kalak’oda Arum orientale M. Bieb., and ghoriskona-khali Sonchus ssp. are used for pkhali (Javakhishvili 1986).

A winter dish is “kalak’oda naq’un” (Arum albispathum Steven ex Ledeb.) “ .” This needs to be dried because it is not edible when raw. It is braided while raw and hung to dry and then prepared as follows: put in a boiling water. When ready, barley flour “rop” (“”) is added, meld with “zhishkhk’”(“”), and seasoned with coriander, mint, and salt (Javakhishvili 1986).

In Racha young shoots of kalak’oda Arum orientale M. Bieb. (in Racha and Imereti the local name is niuk’a) are used as food to cook pkhali (Dvalidze 2014; Shengelia 1983).

In Racha tiorshi , dilkhami Arctium lappa L., mek’endzala Aruncus vulgaris Raf., kalak’oda Arum orientale M. Bieb., and Humulus lupulus L. and many others are kept for winter woven in double braids and hung from a pillar to pillar, long as the song sung by women during the kalak’oda (Arum orientale collection party) (Pruidze 1986).

People of western Georgia widely use dried niuk’a and kalak’oda Arum orientale as a good pkhali plant (Kopaliani 2013).

Arum italicum: Leaves used in phkhali (herb pie) (Bussmann et al. 2014, 2016a, b, 2017, 2018).

Arum maculatum: Leaves and young shoots used in phkhali (herb pie) (Bussmann et al. 2014, 2016a, b, 2017, 2018).

Local Handicraft and Other Uses

The pounded plant material is used as bleach for laundry. Planted as ornamentals (Sokolov 1994).