let’s take a peek

i cut a little window out of my jack-in-the-pulpit, so we could see the hidden flowers inside. here’s a little anatomy and vocabulary lesson on this unusual plant:

The small, inconspicuous flowers of Jack-in-the-pulpit are borne on a fleshy, spike-like inflorescence called a spadix (“Jack”), which is enclosed (or nearly enclosed) by a large, sometimes colorful bract called a spathe (“pulpit”). The flowers are clustered around the base of the spadix inside the spathe. A sterile spadix appendix protrudes from the mouth of the spathe tube. The appendix is covered by the leafy tip of the spathe, referred to as the spathe hood. The lip along the mouth of the spathe tube, used as a landing platform for winged insects, is called the spathe flange.

jack in the pulpit detail