{{Short description|Monotypic genus of flowering plant}} {{Other uses}} {{Speciesbox | image = Calla_palustris2.jpg | image2 = Illustration Calla palustris clean.jpg | image2_caption = ''Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885'' | status = G5 | status_system = TNC | status_ref = <ref>{{cite web |title=''Calla palustris'' |url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.130791/Calla_palustris |publisher=NatureServe |access-date=22 March 2023}}</ref> | status2 = LC | status2_system = IUCN3.1 | status2_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn |author=Lansdown, R.V. |year=2014 |title=''Calla palustris'' |article-number=e.T167822A42334121 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-1.RLTS.T167822A42334121.en}}</ref> | display_parents = 3 | grandparent_authority = Bartl. | genus = Calla | parent_authority = L. | species = palustris | authority = L. | synonyms = Of the genus:<ref name=POWO_2733-1/> {{genus list |hidden=no |Aroides |Heist. ex Fabr. |Callaion |Raf. |Callaria |Raf. |Provenzalia |Adans. }} Of the species:<ref name=POWO_86508-1>{{Cite POWO|title=''Calla palustris'' L..|id=86508-1|access-date=2026-01-10|mode=cs1}}</ref> {{species list |hidden=yes |Calla brevis |(Raf.) Á.Löve & D.Löve |Calla cordifolia |Stokes |Calla generalis |E.H.L.Krause |Calla ovatifolia |Gilib. |Callaion bispatha |(Raf.) Raf. |Callaion brevis |(Raf.) Raf. |Callaion heterophylla |(Raf.) Raf. |Callaion palustris |(L.) Raf. |Dracunculus paludosus |Montandon |Provenzalia bispatha |Raf. |Provenzalia brevis |Raf. |Provenzalia heterophyla |Raf. |Provenzalia palustris |(L.) Raf. }} }}
'''''Calla''''' is a genus of flowering plant in the family Araceae, containing the single species '''''Calla palustris''''' ('''bog arum''', '''marsh calla''', '''wild calla''', '''squaw claw''', and '''water-arum'''<ref name=ROM>Dickinson, T.; Metsger, D.; Bull, J.; & Dickinson, R. (2004) ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario. Toronto:Royal Ontario Museum, p. 62.</ref>). It is the only genus in the tribe '''Calleae''' of the subfamily Aroideae. Its systematic position has been described as "puzzling",<ref name=UlriHessBrödBogn13/> and it has also been placed in its own family '''Callaceae''' and its own subfamily '''Calloideae'''.
== Description == It is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant growing in bogs and ponds. The leaves are rounded to heart-shaped, {{cvt|6|–|12|cm|frac=4}} long on a {{cvt|10|–|20|cm|0}} petiole, and {{cvt|4|–|12|cm|frac=4}} broad. The greenish-yellow inflorescence is produced on a spadix about {{cvt|4|–|6|cm|frac=4}} long, enclosed in a white spathe. The fruit is a cluster of red berries, each berry containing several seeds.<ref>{{eFloras|1|0027260|Calla palustris |first=Sue A. |last=Thompson |family=Araceae}}</ref><ref>{{eFloras|2|200027260|Calla palustris |first1=Heng |last1=Li |first2=Peter C. |last2=Boyce |first3=Josef |last3=Bogner |family=Araceae}}</ref>
The plant is very poisonous when fresh due to its high oxalic acid content, but the rhizome (like that of ''Caladium'', ''Colocasia'', and ''Arum'') is edible after drying, grinding, leaching and boiling.<ref>{{PFAF|Calla palustris}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.epharmacognosy.com/2012/05/wild-calla-calla-palustris-poisonous.html |website=Pharmacognosy |title=Wild calla-Calla palustris-Poisonous plants}}</ref>
== Taxonomy == The genus ''Calla'' and its sole species ''Calla palustris'' were first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.<ref name=POWO_2733-1>{{Cite POWO|title=''Calla'' L..|id=2733-1|access-date=2026-01-10|mode=cs1}}</ref> The genus formerly also included a number of other species, which have now been transferred to the separate genus ''Zantedeschia''. These plants from tropical Africa, however, are still often termed "calla lilies" but should not be confused with ''C. palustris''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-03 |title=Calla Lily Care: Grow Stunning Blooms All Season Long |url=https://www.plantgardener.com/caring-for-calla-lilies/ |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=www.plantgardener.com |language=en-us}}</ref>
The genus ''Calla'' has been regarded as a "puzzling case" in relation to its systematic position. Its pollen is unusual within the family Araceae. The pollen grains are small, ornamented differently, and with a differently constructed exine. Treatments based on anatomy and morphology have tended to separate ''Calla'' from other aroids.<ref name=UlriHessBrödBogn13/> It has been placed in its own family, Callaceae,<ref name="APweb"/> or in its own subfamily Calloideae within the Araceae.<ref name=UlriHessBrödBogn13/> (In the Engler system, Calloideae had included the genera now placed in Orontioideae.<ref name=MayoBognCusi13>{{Citation |last1=Mayo |first1=Simon J. |last2=Bogner |first2=Josef |last3=Cusimano |first3=Natalie |date=2013 |editor1-last=Wilkin and |editor1-first=P. |editor2-last=Mayo |editor2-first=S. J. |contribution=Recent progress in the phylogenetics and classification of Araceae |title=Early Events in Monocot Evolution |pages=208–242 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |contribution-url=https://cate-araceae.myspecies.info/sites/araceae.e-monocot.org/files/Mayo%20et%20al%202013%20Recent%20progress%20in%20phylogenetics%20Araceae.pdf |access-date=2026-01-10 |name-list-style=amp |mode=cs1}}</ref>) Molecular phylogenetic studies on the other hand place ''Calla'' within the subfamily Aroideae,<ref name=UlriHessBrödBogn13>{{Cite journal |last1=Ulrich |first1=Silvia |last2=Hesse |first2=Michael |last3=Bröderbauer |first3=David |last4=Bogner |first4=Josef |last5=Weber |first5=Martina |last6=Halbritter |first6=Heidemarie |date=2013 |title=''Calla palustris'' (Araceae): New palynological insights with special regard to its controversial systematic position and to closely related genera |journal=Taxon |volume=62 |issue=4 |pages=701–712 |doi=10.12705/624.34 |pmc=4374111 |name-list-style=amp }}</ref> where it may be given its own tribe Calleae.<ref name="APweb">Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards). [https://www.mobot.org/mobot/research/apweb/orders/alismatalesweb.htm#Calleae "Calleae"]. ''Angiosperm Phylogeny Website''. Retrieved 2026-01-10.</ref>
== Distribution == It is native to cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, in central, eastern and northern Europe (France and Norway eastward, but not Britain), northern Asia and northern North America (Alaska, Canada, and northeastern contiguous United States).<ref name=POWO_2733-1/><ref>Govaerts, R. & Frodin, D.G. (2002). World Checklist and Bibliography of Araceae (and Acoraceae): 1–560. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == {{ref begin}} * {{cite book | author-link=Neltje Blanchan | last=Blanchan | first=Neltje | title=Wild Flowers: An Aid to Knowledge of our Wild Flowers and their Insect Visitors | year=2002 | publisher=Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation| title-link=Wild Flowers: An Aid to Knowledge of our Wild Flowers and their Insect Visitors }} {{ref end}}
== External links == * {{Go Botany |genus=Calla |species=palustris |link=1}} * [http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=f267 Missouri Gardening, plant finder, Gardening Help] * [http://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/all/calla-palustris/ North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension] * [http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/callapalu.html Connecticut Botanical Society, Wild Calla (Water Arum)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130531210733/http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/callapalu.html |date=2013-05-31 }} * {{Minnesota Wildflowers |Calla palustris (Wild Calla) |flower|wild-calla}} * [http://www.botanic-gardens-ljubljana.com/en/component/plants/calla-palustris University Botanic Gardens at Ljubljana]
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q1945962|from2=Q175886|from3=Q21228147|from4=Q5022864|from5=Q85327515}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Aroideae Category:Monotypic Araceae genera Category:Flora of Northern America Category:Flora of temperate Asia Category:Flora of Europe Category:Garden plants Category:House plants