Calla

Calla (Richardia) - This name has been accepted by botanists for the last three-quarters of a century, although it is not yet generally used by gardeners. The genus consists now of various species. They all have a perennial tuberous root-stock, not unlike that of Caladium, from which spring the annual leaves and scapes, the former with folding stalks, which form a kind of stem, bearing sagittate leaves, the latter erect, stout, and bearing a large spathe. There is a noteworthy difference between R. aethiopica and the others, the former having a rhizome and never naturally dying down.

Calla Pictures

Calla palustris L. water arum

Related Flowers

Lily of the Nile

Lily of the Nile (Richardia Aethiopica) - Introduced into Europe from S. Africa in 1687. It is emphatically a Cape plant, and is not found within 1,000 miles or so of the Nile, although it is commonly known as the Lily of the Nile. In some parts of this country, for instance Cornwall, it has become naturalised in shallow water, spreading and flowering with the same freedom as in the ditches and swamps of the Cape.