It's complicated

The other day, when we were doing the walk around the Mitcham Cemetery, I think one of the organisers got the idea I was just a tad bored.  So she set herself the task of keeping me occupied.  At one point she rushed up with a little flower and told me it was a cobra lily, and it was very rare, and everybody (?)  kept trying to kill it.  But they couldn't touch the graves thank goodness so it survived within  the grave confines.  She was very happy about that.  Anyway she showed me where it was, and we picked a few and I brought them home, because I wanted to do a bit of research and also find out more about this exotic little flower.

Turns out that the true cobra lily is an insect eating pitcher plant from California.  This one I was given is also called a cobra lily but rarely, and it's more common name is Friar's Cowl Lily Arisarum vulgare..  Further more it's an exotic weed, which is native to the southern Mediterranean area, through to the Azores and Madeira.  It's big brother the Arum Lily has just been made a prescribed weed in South Australia.  That means you can't buy them as a plant, and if a nursery is caught selling them, they cop a whopping fine.. 

Because of its look, many Australians assume it to be a native orchid.

It gets more complicated.

The true part of the flower is hidden at the base of that yellow thingy, otherwise known as a spadix.  The real flowers are truly minute, maybe 1mm or so across. The 20 male flowers are located above the four to six female, with sterile flowers completely missing.  They are pollinated by insects. 

Just so you can see what I'm talking about, the true macro shot is in extras - partly because it looks like a dog's dinner.

I set the camera up, with  the 100mm lens and 36mm extension tube, on a tripod and did a slow shutter speed, because I don't have a flash at the moment.  I gave it extra light with a pencil torch I found on the shelf.

And that's about it - I was glad of this project because the weather is not the best, and it's not possible to go out.  I had to settle for Plan B, which was cleaning the pantry out (it took more than 2 hours); and this little lily.