ARISTOLOCHIACEAE BIRTHWORT FAMILY 
VIRGINIA SNAKEROOT 
Aristolochia Serpentaria L. 
The Virginia Snakeroot is one of the more curious flowers in 
this small family. It occurs in rich or dry woods from Con- 
necticut to Michigan and south to Florida, Louisiana and 
Missouri. In Illinois it will 
likely be found only in the 
south. 
It is a perennial herb 
with a short underground 
stem and fibrous aromatic 
roots that contain a stimu- 
lant used in medicine. The 
upright leafy shoot grows 
10-36 inches high but the 
flowers are all produced at 
the base of the plant on 
short scaly branches, or 
rarely underground. 
There is no corolla. The calyx is 
shaped like an S somewhat enlarged at both 
ends and is grown fast to the ovary. The 
6 stamens, in 3 pairs, have no filaments and 
the anthers are attached to the 3-lobed 
style. The fruit is a dry capsule about 
one-half inch in diameter and 6-ridged out- 
side, containing a very large number of small 
flattened seeds. 
The Woolly Pipevine, Aristolochia tomen- 
tosa Sims, is also found in the extreme southern 
part of the state. It is a woody twining vine 
which is very hairy. The flowers are shaped very much like an 
old-fashioned Dutch pipe. The calyx tube, 14% inches long and sharp- 
ly curved, is yellowish green except at the 3-lobed, dark purple limb. 
The 6 anthers are united in pairs beneath the 3 spreading lobes of the 
stigma. The flowers have a rather unpleasant odor and are pollinated 
by flies. 
: Lilacs have bloomed and faded, and the rose 
Has dropped its petals, but the clover blows, 
And fills its slender tubes with honeyed sweets; 
To James Russell Lowell—O.iveEr WENDELL HoLMEs 
77 
