Calla


Calla is a genus of flowering plant in the family Araceae, containing the single species Calla palustris.

Description

It is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant growing in bogs and ponds. The leaves are rounded to heart-shaped, long on a petiole, and broad. The greenish-yellow inflorescence is produced on a spadix about long, enclosed in a white spathe. The fruit is a cluster of red berries, each berry containing several seeds.
The plant is very poisonous when fresh due to its high oxalic acid content, but the rhizome is edible after drying, grinding, leaching and boiling.

Distribution

It is native to cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, in central, eastern and northern Europe, northern Asia and northern North America.

Taxonomy

The genus formerly also included a number of other species, which have now been transferred to the separate genus Zantedeschia. These plants from tropical Africa, however, are still often termed "calla lilies" but should not be confused with C. palustris.