240 APETALOUS EXOGENS 



DIVISION III. APET'ALOUS EXOGENOUS PLANTS. 



Corolla usually none*; ike floral envelopes being mostly in a single 

 series (Calyx), or sometimes wanting altogether. 



ORDER LXXY. ARISTOLOCHIA^CEAE. 



Herbs, or suffruticose plants, sometimes nearly stemhss, sometimes twining and 

 dimbing; leaves alternate, simple, entire, more or less cordate at base, petiolate, 

 often with leaf-like stipules; calyx-tube more or less adherent to the ovary, the 

 border mostly 3-lobed, valvate in the bud ; stamens 6 to 12, epigynous ; anthert 

 adnate, extrorse; ovary mostly 6-celled; stigmas radiate; fruit a fleshy or coriace- 

 ous capsule, 3- to 6-celled, many-seeded; seeds with a large raphe; embryo minute, 

 In fleshy albumen. 



343. AS' ARUM, Tournef. 



[Gr. a, privative, and Seira, a cord ; being anciently rejected from garlands.] 

 Calyx campanulate ; border 3-parted, persistent ; tube wholly adhe- 

 rent to the ovary. Stamens 12 ; filaments subulate, inserted on, or 

 cohering with, the summit of the ovary, produced above the anthers 

 into a slender point. Styles united into a very short thick column, 

 bearing 6 radiating crested stigmas at summit. Capsule fleshy, 

 crowned with the persistent calyx-lobes, opening irregularly. 

 Perennial herbs: stem very short, from a creeping pungently aromatic 

 rhizoma ; flower terminal, pedunculate, and solitary, between the 

 long petioles of the only pair of leaves. 



1* A. CanadeilSC, L. Leaves broad-reniform, glossy-green 



above; capsule ovoid, woolly. 



CANADIAN ASAKUM. Wild Ginger. Colt's-foot. 



Stem assurgent, 1 to 2 inches long; leaves '2 to 4 inches long, and 3 to 5 inches 

 wide; petioles 4 to 6 or 8 inches in length. Flower large, often concealed under 

 dead leaves, nodding in the fork of the petioles, on & peduncle 1 to 1% inches in 

 length ; calyx-lobes lanceolate, acuminate, dark brownish-purple inside, often re- 

 flexed. 

 Hob. Rich woodlands : frequent. Fl. May. Fr. June. 



344. ARISTOL,O V CHIA, Tournef. 



[A Greek name ; having reference to reputed medicinal virtues.] 

 Calyx tubular, ventricose above the ovary, bent, or straight ; border 

 deciduous, oblique, 2- or 3-lobed, the lower lobe sometimes ex- 

 tended to a lip. Stamens 6, inserted on an epigynous disk ; anthers 

 subsessile, wholly adnate to the short style and angular radiating 

 G-lobed stigma. Capsule coriaceous, not crowned, septicidally 6- 

 valved. Erect, or twining perennials: flowers pedunculate, sub- 

 radical, or axillary. 



*If exceptions prove rules, the student will find, In the preceding groups, numer- 

 ous supports of the regulation which governs ffiis division of the Exogenous Tribe! 

 The Dialypetalous division contains many plants which are apetalous, as may 

 bo seen in the Orders RANCNCULACEAE, CISTACEAE, CARYOPHYLLACEAE, ACERACEAE, 

 BHAMNACEAE, ROSACEAE, ONAGRACEAE, CRASSULACBAE, and SAXIFRAGACEAE. The 

 GAMOPETALOUS division, also, presents some which are destitute of Petals, as in the 

 Order OLEACEAE. 



Oil the other hand, a corolla, or Its analogue, is sometimes found among the 

 ApetaLcrut Families, as in the orders EOPHOBBIACKAE, and JUOLAKDACEAK. 



