Arum palaestinum

Black calla, solomon's lily, Solomon'S Lily

Family: Araceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Black calla is a naturalized perennial found in the northern California coastal bioregion around Humboldt Bay, specifically at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary and Woodley Island at elevations below 10 meters. Flowering in March, this plant produces a distinctive inflorescence with a dark purple appendage emerging from a large bract approximately 15 centimeters long. Growing from a vertical tuber, it develops leaves with blades less than 21 centimeters long supported by petioles under 32 centimeters tall. Its leaf structure features broad, relatively large blades emerging from the central tuber. The fruit develops in a yellow-green color, adding subtle visual interest to this exotic marsh-dwelling plant.

Habitat: Marsh, moist meadow

Bloom period: Mar

Elevation: < 10 m

Bioregions: NCo (Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary Woodley Island, Humboldt Bay)

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.