Arum rupicola
Arum rupicola is a woodland plant species of the family Araceae. It is found on Lesbos, on Cyprus, in Anatolia, the Transcaucasus, the Armenian plateau, the north Levant, the Zagros Mountains, and Kopet Dag.
Description
By relative inflorescence height, Arum species are divided into "cryptic" species, whose inflorescences are borne on a short peduncle amid or below the leaves, and "flag" species, whose inflorescences are above leaf level at the end of long peduncles. A. rupicola is a flag species. The flowers of this species have no perceptible odor to humans. The appendix does produce odors perceptible to its pollinators, using sesquiterpenes, traces of p-cresol, various alcohols, esters and ketones. The floral chamber wall is bicolored: dark purple in its opaque upper part and pale green in its translucent lower part. The male flowers of most Arum species produce heat, mainly during the first evening or night after the spathe has opened. The spadix of A. rupicola maintains a temperature of around, about above ambient air temperature, from 17:00–23:00 and then begins to fall.
Ecology
Its main pollinators are hematophagous parasites: Culicoides aricola, C. brunnicans, C. cataneii, C. circumscriptus, C. pulicari, C. punctatus, C. vexans, Odagamia ornata.
Uses
In Olgunlar, the shoots are collected in April-May, boiled, then dried, and used for ayran and pilaf dishes.