Grantham Garden Club
  • Home
    • Flowers & Folklore Blog
  • JOIN US
    • President's Message
    • Membership
    • Organization
    • Volunteer Opportunities
  • PROGRAM & ACTIVITY
    • 2023 Program & Activity
    • 2022 Program & Activity
  • SCHOLARSHIP & GRANT
    • Scholarship
    • Grant
    • Meet our Recipients
  • RESOURCES
  • MEMBERS ONLY
    • Club Calendar
    • Bulletin Board >
      • Van Berkum Plant Sale
      • Civic Gardens Signup
      • Save the Date! Secret Garden Tea Party
      • Gardening News
    • Leadership Teams >
      • 2023 Leadership Teams
      • Leadership History
    • Club Documents
    • Member Meeting Minutes & Treasurer Reports

Jack or Jill?  by Terri Munson

9/9/2022

1 Comment

 
Picture
Most of us recognize a jack-in-the-pulpit in the spring and summer with its distinctive little guy sitting under a canopy, but I wonder how many of you know the rest of the story. Last year’s Jack could very well be this year’s Jill – and vice versa. Jack-in-the-pulpits change sex from year to year based on how much energy a plant contains in its corm, a fat underground stem that stores the plant’s carbohydrates.

“Producing fruit takes a lot of energy,” said Dan Jaffe, a botanist with the New England Wild Flower Society. “Most plants will produce male-only flowers while they are storing up additional energy. The male flowers produce pollen, which doesn’t require much energy. As the plant matures it will continue to photosynthesize and store energy in the form of sugars in its root system. Once enough energy has been stored, the plant will produce female flowers, and if pollinated will then produce berries. After fruiting, the plant will revert back to being male, and the cycle will continue.” The female or male flowers are hidden in the stem (spadix) so you can’t tell if he’s a she by looking  but one clue I read was that Jills have two leaf shoots while Jacks have only one.

These guys/gals reproduce both vegetatively and sexually. In vegetative propagation, new plants arise from the parental corm which sounds like something out of science fiction. In sexual reproduction, pollen from male flowers is transferred to female flowers by pollinating insects. 
​
I’ve been on a quest to find Jill in her berry stage, and finally, with the help of observant fellow hikers, I saw three. They are more difficult to spot this time of year among all the full grown ferns and dense vegetation. These guys/gals are perennials which live for more than 25 years so you should have lots of opportunities to see them. They like shady woodlands and, to me, conjure up images of forest fairies listening to Jack’s or Jill’s sermon. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Thank you to observant hikers Kathy, Marty, Michele, Betsy, Mo, Martha, Sharon, Cathy, and Heidi ​
1 Comment

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Grantham Garden Club, P.O. Box 1232, Grantham, NH 03753
granthamgardenclub.org

© 2023, Grantham Garden Club.  All rights reserved.