ASARUM.] ARI8TQLOGHIK&. 325 



ORDER LXVII. ARiSTOLOCHiE.ffi. 



Herbs or shrubs, often climbing. Leaves alternate, entire or lobed, ex- 

 stipulate. Flowers 2-sexual, solitary spiked or racemed, regular or irregular. 

 Calyx superior, tubular, campanulate or trum pet -sb aped ; limb 3-lobed 

 or lipped, valvate in bud. Stamens 6 or 12, rarely 5, epigynous, fila- 

 ments short or ; anthers free or adnate to the style, cells 2 bursting 

 outwards or inwards. Ovary 4-6-celled ; styles 6, inner surface stiginatic ; 

 ovules very many, anatropous, 2-seriate in the inner angles of the cells. 

 Fruit a 4 6-valved septicidal capsule, or a berry. Seeds horizontal flattened 

 or boat-shaped, raphe thickened, albumen copious fleshy or horny ; em- 

 bryo minute basilar, cotyledons short, radicle usually next the hilum. 

 ULSTRIB. Chiefly trop. ; genera 5; species 180. AFFINITIES. With Nepcn- 

 thacece. and Rajflesiacece. PROPERTIES. Bitter, acrid, sometimes aromatic. 



Calyx campanulate, regularly 3-cleft. Stamens 12 1. Asarum. 



Calyx tubular, mouth oblique. Stamens 6 1*. Ariatolochia. 



1. AS'ARUM, Tournef. ASARABACCA. 



Perennial herbs. Rootstock stout, branched, woody. Leaves radical. 

 Flower solitary, peduncled, terminal, lurid purple. Calyx campanulate, 

 regular, persistent, 3-lobed. Stamens 12, epigynons ; anthers 2-celled, 

 bursting outwards ; connective produced. Ovary inferior or ^-inferior, 

 6-celled ; styles 6, tubular, grooved or 2-fid. Capsule coriaceous, bursting 

 irregularly. Seeds boat-shaped, wrinkled on the convex face, with a median 

 winged or fleshy raphe on the other. DISTRIB. Europe, N. Asia, Himalaya. 

 Jv. America; species 10. ETYM. doubtful. 



1. A. europse'um, L. ; pubescent, leaves evergreen reniform. 

 Copses in Wilts, Yorkshire, Westmoreland, &c. ; a denizen, Watson ; fl. May. 

 Rootstock creeping, fleshy ; branches and stems short, sending up annually a 

 pair of leaves and 2 large scales. Leaves 2-3 in. diam., dark green, petiole 

 3-5 in. Scapes from between the leaves, very short, woolly. Calyx ^ in., 

 greenish-purple outside. Filaments subulate, alternate longer ; connective 

 with a long subulate tip. Styles recurved, their stigmatic tips projecting 

 between the anthers. Fruit globose. DISTRIB. Europe from Belgium 

 southwards, W. Siberia. Root cathartic, emetic, and sternutatory. 



1*. ARISTOLO'CHIA, Tournef. BIRTHWORT. 



Shrubs or perennial herbs, often twining. Leaves cauline ; petioles with 

 dilated bases, having in their axils solitary or racemose flowers and often 

 the stipule-like leaf of an undeveloped bud. Calyx coloured, tube in- 

 flated at the base, then contracted, hairy inside ; limb dilated, obliquely 

 1-2-lipped. Anthers 6, rarely 5 or more, adnate in a whorl to the very 

 stout short 6-lobed style. Capsule septicidally 6-valved. DISTRIB. 

 -Chiefly trop. ; species 160. ETYM. The old Greek name. 



A. CLEMATI'TIS, L. ; glabrous, flowers clustered, lip narrow acute. 

 Ruins, &c., from York southwards, rare and not indigenous ; fl. June-Sept. 

 Rootstock creeping, woody. Stems many, erect, simple, angled. Leaven 



o-ij in. diam., broadly cordate, obtuse, apiculate, reticulate, glaucous 



beneath ; auricles rounded, incurved, almost enclosing the deep sinus. 



Flowers 4-8 in a cluster ; pedicels very short. Ovary fusiform. Calyx 1 in., 



