N. ORD.—ARISTOLOCHIACEA. 138 
GENUS.—ARISTOLOCHIA,* TOURN. 
SEX. SYST.—GYNANDRIA HEXANDRIA., 
SERPENT ARIA. 
VIRGINIAN SNAKE-ROOT. 
SYN.—ARISTOLOCHIA SERPENTARIA, LINN.: A. SERPENTARIA, VAR. BARTONII, 
DUCH.; A. OFFICINALIS, NEBS.; A. SAGITTATA, MUHL.; A. HASTATA, NUTT.; 
ENDODS&CA SERPENTARIA & BARTONII, KLOT. 
COM. NAMES.—SNAKE-ROOT,+ OR WEED; SERPENTARY ROOT, BIRTHWORT, 
SNAGREL; (FR.) SERPENTAIRE OU COULEUVREE DE VIRGINIE; (GER.) 
SCHLANGENWURZEL. 
A TINCTURE OF THE DRIED ROOT OF ARISTOLOCHIA SERPENTARIA, L. 
Description.—This small, aromatic perennial herb, grows to a height of from — 
8 to 15 inches, /foo¢ somewhat horizontal, more or less knotty, giving off—princi- 
pally from its under surface—a multitude of long, fibrous, branching rootlets, its 
dorsum showing the scars of previous stems. Stems few or single, erect, flexuous, 
pubescent, branching at the naked or nodular and bracteolate base. Leaves 
petioled, thin, ovate, ovate-lanceolate, or nearly halbred-shaped, entire, acuminate; 
dase cordate, or auriculate. Stipules none. Lnflorescence single, terminal, upon 
bracted, flexuous peduncles, arising from the base of the stem ; ffowcrs apetalous, 
irregular. Ca/yx tubular, sigmoid, pubescent, and adherent to the ovary; tube 
somewhat dumb-bell shaped, z. ¢., dilated at the apex, gibbous at the base above 
the ovary, and narrowly constricted in the throat; /mé flat, more or less obtusely 
3-lobed, the opening looking obliquely upward. Stamens 6; anthers 12 (contigu- 
ous in pairs, appearing but 6), sessile, adnate to the back of the stigma. Style 
very short and thick; s¢7gma short and sarcous, divided into 3 to 6 flattened lobes, 
with a thickened apical margin. Fyuzt a naked, somewhat cylindrical, slightly | 
6-angled, 6-valved, septicidal capsule; pericarp smooth, dark brown, and papyra- 
ceous; seeds several in each cell, somewhat flattened-pear-shaped, carunculate 
about the fundus, and channelled upon the upper surface, where the raphe—a 
white, thick, fleshy body—runs along its centre. 
Aristolochiaceze.—A small family of twining shrubs, or low herbs, principally 
natives of South America, but having a few scattering species in the warmer parts 
* Apts’os, aris’os, excellent; doxds, /ochos, a parturient ie from the medical qualities of ” Clematitis, which i is : 
said to hasten the delivery of the placenta, and accelerate lochial discharges. 
t The American Snake-roots are, beside this species, Black Snake-root (Sanicula Canadensis, and Marilandica, 
Linn ), Uméellifere; White Snake-root (Zupatorium ageratoides, Linn.), Composite ; Seneca Snake-root (Polygala : es . 
Senega, Linn.), Polygalacee; and Button Snake-root (various species of Liatris ans), and Eringium Yucce- te 
ie, iN Umbelliferse. sees do not include the Rattlesnake roots. 
