238 AEISTOLOCHIACE^, 



1. ARISTOLOCHIA, Dioscorides (Pipe- Vine). Perianth very irregu- 

 lar ; tube iuHated above the ovary, deciduous from it. Anthers 6, sessile 

 and adnate to the short simple style. Stigma 3 — 6-lobed or -angled. 

 Fruit capsular, 6-angled, 6-valved, septicidally dehiscent. 



1. A. Californica, Torr. Pac. R Rep. iv. 128 (1857). A deciduous 

 climbing shrub, 6 — 10 ft. high, more or less densely pubescent with short 

 silky hairs : leaves ovate-cordate, obtnse or acutish, 2 — 4 in. long, short- 

 petioled : peduncles slender, 1 — 2 in. long, with a small cordate or 

 obovate bract in the middle : calyx-tube broadly saccate and doubled 

 upon itself, 1 — 1% i^i- long from the base to the top of the curvature, 

 3^ in. broad, little contracted at the throat ; limb bilabiate, the upper lip 

 of 2 broad obtuse lobes, with a disk-like thickening on the inner side : 

 anthers contiguous in pairs under each of the 3 broad obtuse stigma- 

 lobes : ovary linear-clavate, pubescent : capsule spongy-coriaceous, 

 obovate, attenuate to a slender base, 1}^ in. long, 6-winged : seeds 

 cuneate-obovate, deeply concave on the upper side ; i-aphe prominent, 

 spongy. — Not very common, but met with here and there from Monterey 

 to Napa in the Coast Mountains, and in the interior along the upper 

 Sacramento ; flowers dull purple, appearing in April. 



2. ASA RUM, Dioscorides (Wild Ginger). Perianth regular, cam- 

 panulate ; limb 3-cleft, persistent, the tips of the segments infolded in 

 the bud. Stamens 12, nearly free from the styles, the alternate ones 

 shorter ; connective continued beyond the anthers, pointed. Styles 6, 

 more or less united. Capsule globose, fleshy, irregularly dehiscent. 

 Seeds large, thick, in 2 rows in each cell. 



1. A. Hartweg-i, Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. x. 346 (1875). Acaulescent, 

 with creeping aromatic rootstocks, the branches of these bearing 2 or 3 

 scarious sessile caducous bracts, and 2 long petioled leaves, and a 

 pedunculate flower in the axil of the lower leaf : leaves 2 — 6 in. long, 

 reniform-cordate, with large rounded auricles, acutish, glabrous and 

 mottled above, the margin ciliate : peduncle stout, % — 1 in. long : ovary 

 }£ in. broad: calyx-lobes ovate, narrowed to a linear apex, 1 — 1^2 in- 

 long : filaments stoutish, nearly free from the style ; anthers 1 line long, 

 the produced connective setaceous, 1 — 2 lines long : styles short, nearly 

 distinct, scarcely equalling the anthers : seeds 2 lines long, ovate. — 

 Forests of the Sierra, at 4,000 to 7,000 ft., forming tufts. 



2. A. caudatum, Lindl. Bot. Reg. under 1. 1399 (1831). More slender, 

 with longer rootstocks, sparingly pubescent with long floccose hairs : 

 leaves cordate-reniform, somewhat cucullate, acutish or obtuse, 2-4 in. 

 long, sparingly pubescent above : peduncles slender, 6—15 lines long : 

 ovary 4 lines broad : calyx-lobes oblong, with long-attenuate apex, 

 1—2)^ in. long : filaments stout, the free apex of the connective shorter 



