ARISTOLOCHIA SERPENTARIA,. 
Fruit. Capsule or berry three —six-celled, many-seeded. 
Embryo minute, in the base of fleshy albumen. 
Seeps. Numerous. 
Tue Seconpary CHARACTERS. 
Aristotocuia. Calyx ligulate, with an inflated base and 
an unequal border. Anthers six, subsessile upon the style. 
Stigma six-cleft. Capsule six-celled, many-seeded. 
Calyx wanting. Corolla superior, one-petalled, ligulate, inflated at the base. 
Capsule six-celled, many-seeded. 
Tue Speciric CHaracTEerRs. 
ArisTo.ocaia Serpentartia. Stem erect, flexuous. Leaves 
oblong, cordate, acuminate. Peduncles radical. Lip of the 
calyx \anceolate. 
Leaves heart-form, oblong, acuminate. Stem zigzag, ascending. Peduneles radi- 
cal. Lip of the corolla lanceolate. 
Tur ARTIFICIAL CHARACTERS. 
Cuass Gynanprta. Stamens and style consolidated. Or- 
pER Trianpria. Exogens. Herbs or shrubs. Flowers green- 
ish. Stamens six to twelve. Stigmas radiate. 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
Vireinta Snaxeroor is a native of the whole middle and 
southern sections of the United States. It is a curious vege- 
table, of low growth in hedges and thickets. It flowers in 
May and June, and ripens its seed in September. 
The root is perennial, consisting of bundles of fibres, of a 
yellow-ochre color, which changes to brown on. drying, at-, 
tached to a contorted horizontal trunk, frora which several 
stems rise about ten inches in height, slender, crooked, and 
jointed, supporting on long footstalks, at each knot, thin cor- 
_ date, entire, pointed, trinerved leaves, of a yellowish-green 
color. The flowers proceed from the joints, near the root, 
and stand upon long sheathed, articulated peduncles, which 
_ bend down and almost bury the flowers beneath the decayed 
leaves near the roots. There is no calyx. The corolla is of 
ae ahuowapieb: arple color, ‘globular ai at the base, contracted and 
