Orontium aquaticum L.
Golden club, floating arum, never-wets, tawkin, goldenclub
Golden club is native to the eastern United States.
Plants: These unusual-looking aquatic plants are hard to mistake. Plants grow in shallow water or float in deeper water, reaching 1–2′ (30–60 cm) in height above the water line. They are emersed—rooting underwater, but otherwise above the water line.
Leaves: Whorled, strap-like, velvety, water-repellant, oblong-elliptic, 5–18″ (12–45 cm), with parallel veins. Leaf undersides are pale and silvery.
Flowers: Gold-colored flowers appear at the tips of long, white, naked, erect spadixes. The yellow tips are fertile regions. Flowers themselves are tiny, also yellow, appearing from Apr-Jun.
Fruits: Green flesy berries.
Habitats: Ponds, streams, and shallow lakes.
Edibility: Poisonous 
. All parts of the plant are poisonous.
Symptoms include
burning and swelling of lips, tongue, and throat; and nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Contact with cell sap may cause skin irritation. Seeds and roots are edible with careful
preparation and proper harvesting time.
Online References:
References:
Clemants, Steven; Gracie, Carol, Wildflowers in the Field and Forest, Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 228
5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts 
5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 17 × 12″ (44 × 29 cm) 
5/15/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts 
5/22/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms |
| Class | Liliopsida | Monocots (plants with a single seed leaf); includes the lily family |
| Subclass | Alismatidae | Aquatic and marshy plants |
| Order | Alismatales | Herbaceous flowering plants found in marshy habitats |
| Family | Araceae | Arum family, with plants whose flower is enclosed in a spathe |
| Genus | Orontium | The Dave’s Garden Botanary website says that this is named for the region of the Orontes River in Syria, from which came a Greek name orontion which was applied to some aquatic plant |
| Species | aquaticum | Found in the water, relating to water |
Orontium aquaticum description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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