Many struggle with scientific names; they are much harder to remember than the English common name which can cause so much confusion. Specific names are important and this plant shows why. This is lords and ladies but is also known as wild arum, cuckoo-pint, snakeshead, adder’s root, arum lily, devils and angels, cows and bulls, Adam and Eve, bobbins, naked boys, starch-root, wake robin, friar’s cowl, jack in the pulpit and arum lily but is specifically known as Arum maculatum. With birds there is the ‘official’ list of English names but not so with flora. The specific name is international, everywhere in the world where it occurs it will be specifically known as Arum maculatum. The purple blotched leaves of Arum maculatum appear about Christmas time but it is not until mid April that they come in to flower along our hedgerows and woodland edges. The flower is a bit different from most with that central spike enclosed in a leaf like sheath. Later in the year the spike will bear a series of red berries which are poisonous; indeed the whole plant can be toxic to some people and is best left untouched. It is a very common plant and can be seen on chalk soils right across the county. Call it what you will, my preference is wild arum, my field guide calls it lords and ladies, but we can at least agree on Arum maculatum!
The Nature of dorset 