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Pinellia Tripartita | Green Dragon, Dragon's Tail, Voodoo Lily

First bloom dates:

April 22, 2024

Pinellia Tripartita | Green Dragon, Dragon's Tail, Voodoo Lily

Synonym Arisaema tripartitum

Arisama is the jack-in-the-pulpit plant, so this plant is closely related.

Araceae (Arum Family) Pronounced a-RAY-see-eye

Pronounced Pie-NEL-ee-uh Try-par-TEE-tuh

The Arum Family (aka Aroid) has a commonality of flowers on a Spadix, which is a spike, or rodlike structure, on a fleshy stem. The Spadix is usually hugged by a Spathe, which is a bract that looks like a single petal to me! It is all rather confusing to first learn. As a memory tool, I think of a peace lily flower and the white petal-like part is the Spathe that is hugging the spikey part in the middle which is the Spadix.

The Green dragon is in the same family as and is closely related to the Arisama | Jack-in-the-pulpit. I think that is so cool because I love seeing Jack-in-the-pulpit as a native plant along the hiking trails here in Missouri and I always thought it would be cool to have one in my own garden, so this is the next best thing.

The name 'Pinellia' is in honor of Giovanni Vincenzo Pinelli (1535-1601) of the Botanic Garden in Naples, Italy.

The name 'Tripartita' is from Latin word 'tri' meaning 'three,' and 'partita' meaning 'part,' as there is a trifoliate, which is the three-parted leaf. The plant has one leaf and it is surely intriguing to observe.

Common name of 'Green Dragon' is in reference to the shape like a dragon's tail, and the green color of the flower structure.

I bought this plant at the Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, native plant sale during their garden walk in 2018 or 2017, and the man told me it was a "dragon's tail" and that has stuck with me ever since. It sure does look like a dragon's tail whipping around whenever it blooms.

This is a bulb and spreads by tubers. I never knew that as I have always thought of it as perennial roots. I love learning.  It does have pods that contain the seeds and I will have to look for that and watch the plant more closely. This is not invasive like some other forms, but it will also spread by seed, so be sure to pluck the seeds if you do not want it to spread.

The plant height is 6 to 12 inches.

All parts of the plant are poisonous to eat and can cause skin irritation if allergic.

The color of the flower is considered "chartreuse" which is a yellow-green, but really it does not have much color at all other than blending in green with the leaves.

The flower structure is also similar to a calla-lily bloom. It is at the top of a naked stem and consists of the pale green Spadix, which contains both the male and the female parts of the flower, and wrapped around the Spadix is the Spathe (blade). All flowers on the Spadix face the same direction away from the Spathe.

The fun part is that the Spadix has a 7 to 10 inch extension that is very long and whip-like which goes up from the lip of the Spathe into the air. This is what I call the dragon's tail.

2024

2018

The only other photos I found of the Dragon's Tail were from 2018. I may have bought it in 2018 or 2017. I did the Ste. Genevieve Walk in both of those years.