The jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum (L.) Schott) is native to moist woods and swamps of eastern North America. The plants were originally named Arum triphyllum by Linnaeus in 1753. Heinrich Wilhelm Schott moved the jack-in-the-pulpit to the genus Arisaema in 1843. Schott was the first botanist to dedicate his studies to the classification of the aroids (family Araceae). He was also the director of the gardens at the Habsburg's Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna during the early 1800s.

Jack-in-the-pulpit reproduces both by seed and by off-sets of the corm. Plants in a colony are probably all clones from "corm-lets". But whether from an off-set or seed, approximately the first five years of the plant's life is spent growing and building up its reserves. During these years, the plant is asexual and produces only a single three-part leaf.

If the plant is in sufficiently rich soil and suffers no herbivory, it will flower about its sixth year. Jack-in-the-pulpit sends up a scape topped by a spadix (an inflorescence comprised of tiny flowers) subtended by a spathe. This type of inflorescence is typical of the aroids. The spathe enfolds and arches over spadix and is thought to protect the tiny flowers from wind, rain, and other damage. All flowers produced by jack-in-the-pulpits in those first sexual years are male. Through these male years, the plant still only produces a single leaf per year.

If the jack-in-the-pulpit does well and continues to grow stronger and bigger, he will send up two leaves and change sex. Jack becomes Jane. The spadix will be covered with tiny female flowers. Sometimes, though, the spadix has male flowers at the top and female flowers near the base. I.C. Feller (Smithsonian Environmental Research Center newsletter, Spring 1999) found that pollen produced by the male flowers on these monoecious spadices was sterile.

Female plants comprise a small portion of the population and are, of course, the only plants that produce seed. Seed produced plants bring diversity to the populations. Unfortunately, drought, herbivory, or poor weather will cause plants to revert to males and years may go by before seeds are again produced.