About Orontium aquaticum L.
Orontium aquaticum, sometimes called golden-club, floating arum, never-wets or tawkin, is a species of flowering plant in the family Araceae. It is the only extant living species in the genus Orontium, which also includes several extinct species described from fossil remains. O. aquaticum is endemic to the eastern United States, where it grows in ponds, streams, and shallow lakes, and it prefers an acidic environment. Its leaves are pointed, oval-shaped, and have a water-repellent surface. The inflorescence is most notable for having an extremely small sheath surrounding the spadix that is nearly impossible to distinguish; this green sheath withers away very early in flowering, leaving only the spadix behind. Adolf Engler originally classified this sheath as a spathe, because it is the last foliar structure positioned before the spadix. He also noted that this species lacks a sympodial leaf. However, in a 1988 paper, Thomas Ray argued that Engler misidentified the structure, which Ray said is actually a sympodial leaf. According to Ray's interpretation, the spathe is missing from the inflorescence, not the sympodial leaf. Ray's conclusion was based on observations of morphological characteristics, specifically the presence of a two-keeled bracteole and the positioning of this structure. Despite this differing interpretation, the floral structure is still commonly classified as a spathe in published literature.
