- Lifespan
- Perennial, with individual plants persisting for many years through underground tubers
- Size & Weight
- 20–40 cm tall; spadix (flower spike) 8–15 cm; berries 8–10 mm diameter
- Habitat
- Woodland floors, hedgerows, and shaded areas with moist, nutrient-rich soil across England and Wales.
- UK Distribution
- Common throughout southern England and Wales, becoming scarcer northwards; absent from most of Scotland and northern England. Resident year-round.
- Diet
- Not applicable—a flowering plant that produces its own food via photosynthesis.
- Predators
- Seeds and tubers eaten by rodents, slugs, and some birds; foliage browsed by deer and rabbits.
- Mating Season
- Flowers April to May; berries ripen August to October.
- Breeding
- Monoecious (male and female flowers on same spadix). Produces clusters of bright red berries containing 1–6 seeds; dispersed by birds.
- Behaviour
- The distinctive purple-spotted leaves emerge in spring; the plant is thermogenic, generating heat to volatilise attractants that lure pollinating flies. All parts contain calcium oxalate crystals, causing intense burning if ingested—hence the common name 'Cuckoo pint' and warnings against touching.