Why a Photographic Book on Arum?
Because it is one of the most beautiful, stylish and interesting plants we have in the British Isles.
Even those who seldom venture into nature recognise the Wild Arum the moment they are shown a picture of it. Cuckoo Pint, Lords and Ladies or even Arum Maculatum, is a visually unforgettable and well recognised resident.
If any plant is seemingly purpose made to be photogenic, then this is one of them.
Let’s take a walk through the British countryside in the early spring or late summer. Cast your eye under the hedge-bank or into the shade of passing woodland. Do you see any strange, hooded creatures in the undergrowth or perhaps a procession of tall stems offering up inviting yet threatening clusters of bright red berries? If so you have stumbled upon one of the most distinctive and unusual plants we have with us in this country.
For many it carries a certain air of danger or mystery. From its sexually suggestive cowls which announce it’s springtime presence to its maces of lipstick-red berries which perch atop slenderously erect green stalks in late summer, it is not surprising that the ‘Gentlemans’s Finger’ (as it was salaciously known in Wiltshire), has garnered more common names than any other UK plant; over 100 at the last count.
It was on such spring-time walks that I became enamoured with the Wild Arum and fell under its spell. Its distinctive appearance (a family trait), makes Arum a wonderful plant to photograph and initially I viewed the plant as one might view an unusually attractive and stylish looking model. This superficial phase was not to last long. What began as a quick query to learn a smattering of background unearthed such a rich and interesting history that I had to find out the whole story. The result is this website and the currently-being-written book behind it.
This website is something of an extrusion of the usually quite internal process of writing. So rather than spending another 6 months collating, writing, rewriting, and organising, some of the process of 'growing' this book (to put it so organically if I may), will be carried out here.
There has been no book focusing purely on the UK Arum plant since Cecil Prime's great work in the 1960's as part of the New Naturalist series. Prime's 'Lords and Ladies' is a fantastic book, very different in style to anything which would be written today but very thorough and a mine of information. 'The Secret Life of Lords and Ladies' has a greater focus on the photographic attractions of the plant but with 40 years or so of research since Prime's book, there is a great deal of research on this family of plants which finds a natural place in a new and current book on the British Arum.
Lynden Swift
For many it carries a certain air of danger or mystery. From its sexually suggestive cowls which announce it’s springtime presence to its maces of lipstick-red berries which perch atop slenderously erect green stalks in late summer, it is not surprising that the ‘Gentlemans’s Finger’ (as it was salaciously known in Wiltshire), has garnered more common names than any other UK plant; over 100 at the last count.
It was on such spring-time walks that I became enamoured with the Wild Arum and fell under its spell. Its distinctive appearance (a family trait), makes Arum a wonderful plant to photograph and initially I viewed the plant as one might view an unusually attractive and stylish looking model. This superficial phase was not to last long. What began as a quick query to learn a smattering of background unearthed such a rich and interesting history that I had to find out the whole story. The result is this website and the currently-being-written book behind it.
This website is something of an extrusion of the usually quite internal process of writing. So rather than spending another 6 months collating, writing, rewriting, and organising, some of the process of 'growing' this book (to put it so organically if I may), will be carried out here.
There has been no book focusing purely on the UK Arum plant since Cecil Prime's great work in the 1960's as part of the New Naturalist series. Prime's 'Lords and Ladies' is a fantastic book, very different in style to anything which would be written today but very thorough and a mine of information. 'The Secret Life of Lords and Ladies' has a greater focus on the photographic attractions of the plant but with 40 years or so of research since Prime's book, there is a great deal of research on this family of plants which finds a natural place in a new and current book on the British Arum.
Lynden Swift