Calla

CALLA (kalla), or calla lily, is a beautiful garden flower of the arum family, or Ar-aceae. It is related to the jack-in-the-pulpit and the skunk cabbage. What looks like the flower of the calla is really a leaf like sheath called a spathe. The true flowers are very small and are inside the spathe. In the common calla the spathe is pure white. There are also yellow and pink varieties.

The calla grows from a bulb. This bulb must be planted in rich well-watered soil. Often it is placed in loam or soil mixed with manure. In most parts of North America it is grown indoors or in a greenhouse.

In California and southern Texas it can be grown outdoors and is planted in parks in great flower beds. The much smaller marsh calla grows wild in swamps in the northern temper-zone.

The most common tropical calla comes from the banks of the Nile River in Egypt it is called calla lily, Ethiopian lily, or common calla. The plant has a 10-inch (25-centimeter) white leaf. The calla lily causes a burning irritation to the mouth and stomach if eaten.

Scientific classification. The calla is in the arum family. Ar-aceae. The common calla is Zantedeschia aethiopica. The water arum is Calla palustris.