Arisarum vulgare

Growing in Pots, Balconies & Indoors

Friar’s cowl is a small Mediterranean woodland tuber. The grower says it can be kept indoors but does not rate it as a long-term container plant – it naturalises better in open ground. On a cool, bright windowsill it can be grown as a curiosity, going dormant in the dry season.

Quick Details

• Container Size: Small if potted at all – a shallow pot for a 5-25 cm (2-10 in) tuber
• Indoor Suitability: Possible on a cool, bright sill, but the grower does not rate it as a container plant
• Best Spot: Sun to full shade, kept cool
• Soil & Drainage: Gritty, sharply free-draining
• Watering in Pots: Small to average in growth; keep nearly dry when dormant

Indoors & On the Windowsill

• Windowsill curiosity: Can be kept on a cool, bright sill for its odd hooded flowers; give bright light and let it dry off and go dormant after flowering.
• Grower’s caution: He does not recommend it as a permanent pot plant – it does better naturalised in open ground.
• Safety: Like other arums the sap is irritant – keep it off children and pets.

On a Balcony or Patio

• Cool & shaded: If tried in a pot, keep it in a cool, partly shaded spot with sharp drainage and protect the dormant tuber from waterlogging.

Choosing the Pot, Soil & Long-Term Care

• Pot & drainage: If potted, use a gritty, free-draining mix in a pot with strong drainage; avoid standing water, which rots the tuber.
• Dormancy: Keep nearly dry while dormant and resume watering when growth returns.

Bloom & Flower Guide

Quick Details

• Bloom Season: Spring and autumn (the cooler seasons)
• Flower Appearance: A hooded, bottle-shaped spathe striped white, green, red or blackish, sheltering a slender spadix – the “friar cowl”
• Edibility: Not edible – an aroid containing calcium oxalate

Detailed Blooming Overview

This Mediterranean aroid produces a striped, hooded spathe that forms the familiar cowl shape. It blooms in the cooler seasons – autumn and spring – when small flies are drawn down into the hood to pollinate it.

Flower Characteristics

• Bottle-shaped, hooded spathe.
• Striped in white, green, red or blackish tones, over a slender spadix.

Bloom Care & Thinning

• Pollination: By small flies lured into the hood (a trap-style bloom).
• Safety: Sap is an irritant; handle with care.