A genus of about 150 species in the flowering plant family Araceae, native to eastern and central Africa, Asia and eastern North America. Its species are often called Cobra lilies, particularly the Asiatic species. A familiar species in North America is Arisaema triphyllum (Jack in the pulpit).
One unusual trait shared by all Arisaema species, and not those of other genera, is the sex change. Arisaema plants are typically male when small, and female or hermaphraditic when large, with a single plant capable of changing sex based on nutrition[1] and genetics, and perhaps changing sex several times during its long life (20 years or more).
