Jack in the Pulpit
Like many of the other plants in the Crum, Jack in the Pulpit is edible, efficacious, and poisonous. After reading the descriptions of the acute pain caused by the needle-shaped calcium oxalate crystals (raphides) present in Arisaema (as well as other plants, including rhubarb and skunk cabbage), using the plant for medicine or food seems less attractive.
Georgia O’Keeffe painted a series of six Jack in the Pulpits which move from representative to very abstract. You can see numbers 2-6 at the National Gallery’s Georgia O’Keeffe page.
Arisaema triphyllum
“thus in the [O’Keeffe] jack-in-the-pulpits, abstraction becomes a metaphor of,
and an equivalent for,
knowledge”
(source)
and an equivalent for,
knowledge”
(source)
Samuel B. Palmer
Biology Dept.
Swarthmore College
Biology Dept.
Swarthmore College
Monday, May 1, 2006
All of the Palmer Watercolors are courtesy of the Biology Department of Swarthmore College. A searchable database of the images is available through the Swarthmore library’s Triptych site.