Pinellia pedatisecta

Pinellia pedatisecta, Chinese Green Dragon, is native to a large area of China where it grows in shaded woodland and forested slopes and valleys below 1000m above sea level. It is an extremely easy-to-grow Aroid and an ideal first plant if you havn't yet discovered how wonderful and rewarding the Aroids can be. It has very distinctive and exotic-looking pedate foliage with long lanceolate leaflets that each have many pale-coloured veins. The spathe is pale green and resembles a folded leaf in the shape of a boat or canoe and the extraordinary pale yellow spadix is very elongated and serpentine and usually arises vertically from the spathe. Pinellia pedatisecta is suited for woodland conditions in cooler shady situations and an ideal Aroid for the UK and northern Europe. It is very vigorous and will quickly form a good-sized clump.

The inflorescence on Pinellia pedatisecta is unusual and very exotic-looking; of the nine recognised Pinellia species it is the only one that lacks the internal septum that partially separates the lower tube from the spathe blade. The long attenuated snake-like spadix with its upward whip-like appendix is a curious and fascinating sight.