BIRTHWORT FAMILY 



535 



1. ASARUM [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 442. 1753. 



Acaulescent perennial herbs, with aromatic creeping rootstocks bearing 2 or 3 scales and 

 thick fleshy roots. Leaves basal, long-petioled, cordate, mostly ovate or orbicular. Flowers 

 solitary large, borne in the lower axils very near the ground on a short peduncL'. Calyx regu- 

 lar, 3-cleft or 3-parted, campanulate. Stamens 12, with short stout filaments, fhe connectives 

 of the anthers prolonged into a point. Capsule rather fleshy, crowned by the persistent calyx, 

 globose, bursting irregularly or loculicidally dehiscent; seeds large, compressed. [The 

 ancient name, of obscure derivation.] 



About 20 species, natives of the North Temperate Zone. Besides the following, 4 others occur in 

 extreme 'eastern North America. Type species, Asariim europaeum L. 



Calyx-lobes long-attenuate. 



Terminal appendages longer than the pollen-sacs. 1. A- hartwegi. 



Terminal appendages much shorter than the pollen-sacs. 2. A. caudatiim. 



Calyx-lobes obtuse or merely acute, not attenuate. 3. A. lemmoni. 



1. Asarum hartwegi S. Wats. 



Asaniin hookeri major Ducharte, in DC. Prodr. 



15': 424. 1864. 

 Asarum hartzvegi S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 10: 



463. 1875. 

 Asarum major Coville, Contr. Nat. Herb. 4 : 192. 



1893. 



Rootstock often much branched and 

 tufted, rather stout. Leaves evergreen, cor- 

 date with large rounded auricles, 5-15 cm. 

 long, and nearly as broad, usually acute, 

 glabrous and mottled above or rarely 

 sparsely pubescent on the veins, the mar- 

 gins ciliate ; petioles floccose ; peduncles 

 stout, 15-25 mm. long; calyx brownish pur- 

 ple, floccose without, pubescent within, the 

 tube wholly adnate to the ovary, about 12 

 mm. broad, the lobes ovate, narrowed to an 

 elongated linear apex, 25-65 mm. long; the 

 prolonged free apex of the connective as 

 long or twice as long as the anther; styles 

 shorter than the stamens, nearly distinct ; 

 seeds ovate, 4 mm. long. 



Coniferous forests. Arid Transition Zone; Sis- 

 kiyou Mountains, southern Oregon to the southern 

 Sierra Nevada, not found in the California Coast 

 Ranges. Type locality: central Sierra Nevada, 

 probably on the American River. 



Hartweg's Wild Ginger. 



Fig. 



1296. 



2. Asarum caudatum Lindl. Long-tailed Wild Ginger. Fig. 1297. 



<^^ 



Asarum caudatum Lindl. Bot. Reg. 17 : under pi. 



1399. 1831. 

 Asarum hookeri Field. & Gardn. Sert. Plant. 1: pi. 



32. 1844. 



Rootstocks slender, elongated, branching. 

 Leaves 2 at a node, cordate-reniform, evergreen, 

 4-12 cm. long, acute or acutish or sometimes 

 obtuse, dark green above and sparingly short- 

 pubescent at least on the veins ; petioles floccose- 

 woolly to glabrous; peduncles slender, 15-30 

 mm. long; calyx brownish purple, floccose 

 woolly to nearly glabrous without, purplish pu- 

 bescent within; calyx-tube entirely adnate to the 

 ovary, about 1 cm. broad; calyx-lobes oblong, 

 more or less long-attenuate, 25-85 mm. long; 

 the prolonged apex of the connective much 

 shorter than the anther; styles united, equalling 

 the stamen; seeds ovate, 3 mm. long. 



Moist shaded woods. Transition Zone; British 

 Columbia and Idaho south to the Blue Mountains, and 

 in the Coast Ranges to the Santa Cruz Mountains, 

 California. Type locality: Fort Vancouver, Wash- 

 ington. 



