Arisaema costatum
Watercolour on Fabriano 5, framed in Oak
45cm x 32cm, framed to 70cm x 50cm
£4250 Enquire >>
An original watercolour painting of Arisaema costatum. I watched this plant grow in my Edinburgh garden for two years before painting this specimen. Depicting two seasons of growth, the inflorescence and leaf from the summer months, and the fruit from the autumn season.
I particularly love the graceful shape to the inflorescence with its long entwining spadix, it is the most graceful of my arisaema flowers and the carmine and white striped spathe is just candy cane delicious. The leaf is edged with carmine which diffuses up the veins segmenting the fresh green elephantine trifold leaflets. In autumn the lovely orange fruits are held on a curved peduncle that colour morphs from deep chocolate to a banana yellow, this truly is a rainbow of arisaema.
Botanical details
Common name: Ribbed Cobra Lily or Purple or Sikkim Jack in the Pulpit Section Arisaema Type: A. speciosum (Wall.) Mart. ex Schott
A. costatum has huge leaves which make it a popular garden plant, coupled with its tendency to flourish in European and North American climates. The underside of the leaf is quite distinct with very prominent parallel veins. The name comes from the ribbed inner surface of the spathe-tube, costa – rib, costatus – ribbed.
Deciduous, to 60 cm tall and wide, distribution through C and E Nepal, W China, and S Xizang. Mixed forests, shrubbery and open slopes, 1900 – 3180m. Flowering period June to July, ripening November to December.
“The Genus Arisaema, A Monograph for Botanist and Nature Lovers“, Guy and Liliane Gusman, 2006, A.R.G. Gantner Verlag K.G. “Himalayan Cobra-lilies (Arisaema) Their Botany and Culture”, Udai C. Pradhan, 1990, Primulaceae Books, Himalayan Plant Journal, Kalimpong-734301, Darjeeling, Gorka Hill Council, West Bengal, India. “100 Himalayan Flowers” P. V. Bole and Ashvin Mehta, Vendome Press, 1991.
© Marianne Hazlewood
