AKA
Indian Turnip, Wild turnip, arum, three-leaved arum, dragon-turnip, brown dragon, devil’s-ear, marsh turnip, swamp turnip, meadow turnip, bog onion, priest’s-pintle, lords-and-ladies.
I’ve always referred to this plant as Indian Turnip. Because of the big pod of red berries, people that ginseng know this plant very well. From a distance they can be mistaken for the berries on the ginseng plant. This photo is the Indian Turnip berry pod.
I heard, a long time ago, about a practical joke which involved getting someone to take a bite of the root. Which, by the way, looks like a turnip. Doing so would cause a severe burning sensation in the mouth. I have never fell for the joke and have always tried to educate people on its true effects. I thought it was a really cruel joke. Just because it is called a turnip doesn’t mean you can eat it.
The following info from here http://altnature.com
Jack-in-the-Pulpit root is used in alternative medicine and is edible (only after drying and cooking), it is acrid, antiseptic, diaphoretic, expectorant, irritant and stimulant. A medicinal poultice of root used for headaches and various skin diseases. Ointment used for ringworm, tetterworm and abscess. The fresh root contains high concentrations of calcium oxalate and is considered to be too dangerous and intensely acrid to use. Roasting the root after drying it 6 months removes the acridity. In this way Native Americans peeled and ground the roots to powder to make a bread, which has a flavor similar to chocolate. The roots can be cut into very thin slices and allowed to dry for several months, after which they are eaten like potato chips, crumbled to make a cereal or ground into a cocoa-flavored powder for making biscuits and cakes. A starch obtained from the roots is used as a stiffener for clothes.
Caution is advised as ingesting the fresh root can cause poisoning and even death.
