AUISTOLOCHIACE.E. (UIRTHWORT FAMILY.) 371 



Division III. APETALOUS EXOGENOUS PLANTS. 



Floral envelopes single, consisting of a calyx only, or alto^ 

 getlier wanting. 



Order 105. ARISTOLOCHIACEiE. (Birthwort 

 Family.) 



Herbs or woody vines, with alternate petioled mostly cordate and entire 

 leaves, and solitary pedunoled dull-colored flowers. — Calyx adherent to 

 the 6-celled ovary, tubular, valvate in the bud. Stamens 6-12, more or 

 less united with the styles : anthers adnate, extrorse. Fruit 6-celled, few 

 - many-seeded. Seed anatropous. Embryo minute, at the base of fleshy 

 albumen. 



1. ASARUM, Toiarn. Asarabacca.. 



Calyx rcfiular, 3-lobed. Stamens 12, the filaments partly united with the 

 style, and usually prolonged beyond the anthers. Capsule fleshy, globose, open- 

 ing irregularly — Aromatic perennial herbs, with creeping stems, long-petioled 

 cordate or kidney-shaped leaves, and axillary peduncled flowers. 



^ 1. AsARUM. — • Calyx hell-shaped, adnate to the ovary, 3-parted : jilaments free or 

 neai'ly so : stigma 6-lobed. — Leaves deciduous. 



1. A. Canadense, L. (Wild Ginger-root.) Pubescent ; leaves 2, kid- 

 ney-shaped ; calyx-lobes acuminate ; filaments as long as the style. — Mountains 

 of North Carolina, and northward. April and May. — Flowers sliort-peduncled, 

 purple within. 



§2. IIeterotrofa. — Calyx inflated, nearly free from the ovari/, 3-cleft : fila- 

 ments united with the ocary : styles 6 : stigmas 2-cleJi. — Leaves evergreen, smooth, 

 mottled. 



2. A. Virgmicum, L. Leaves round-cordate ; calyx inflated-bell-shaped, 

 with rounded lobes ; stigmas deeply 2-cleft. — Rich shady woods in the upper 

 districts, Georgia, and northward. April and May. — Leaves single or 2-3 

 together, 2' long. Flowers 8" - 9" long, nearly sessile at the base of the petioles, 

 greenish without, dull purple within, 



3. A. arifolium, Michx. Leaves oblong-cordate ; caly.x pitcher-shaped, 

 with rounded lobes ; stigmas slightly 2-cleft. — Shady woods in the lower dis- 

 tricts, Florida to North Carolina. March and April — Leaves 3'- 4' long, 

 auriculate at the base, long-petioled. Calyx 1 ' long, distinctly peduncled, con- 

 tracted above the middle, dark purple within. 



2. ARISTOLOCHIA, Toum. Birthwort. 



Calyx tubular, commonly bent and inflated above the ovary. Anthers 6, ses- 

 sile, adnate to the 3 - 6-lobed or angled stigma. Capsule 6-valved. — Erect or 



