Arum a plant surprise in hedge cleaning exercise

ON THIS page last week I mentioned that I’m cleaning up an old hedgerow.

I’m still at it. There’s quite a lot of this hedge and I can only spare a couple of hours a day for the work. Although progress is slow, and I’m only using hand tools, I find it very satisfying. And everything growing in this hedge is a native plant, so my ‘hands on’ approach provides plenty of close range botany.

I’ve just come across a strange and rather interesting plant. A green spike poking out of the ivy in the hedge bottom with its tip covered in a cone of bright orange-red berries. It has a number of common names, including lords and ladies and cuckoo-pint. Its Latin name is Arum maculatum.