* 

 Asarum. ARISTOLOCHIACE^E. 



nut. Cotyledons thick and edible, plano-convex, the base including the short 

 radicle. 



Five other species are found in Europe and Asia, and one in the Atlantic States. 



1. C. rostrata, Ait. Leaves broadly ovate or oval, 1 to 4 inches long, acumi- 

 nate or acute, cordate or rounded at base, somewhat pubescent beneath on the nerves ; 

 petioles slender, nearly smooth : fruiting involucre densely hispid, of united bracts 

 more or less prolonged and narrowed into a tube above the nut, 1 to 1^ inches long, 

 often recurved : nut 5 or 6 lines in diameter. Var. Californica, A. DC. Pubes- 

 cence more abundant, villous and often glandular : leaves an inch or two long, less 

 acuminate and on rather shorter petioles : tube of the involucre shorter, often 

 scarcely exceeding the nut. Prodr. xvi 2 . 133. 



A shrub 3 to 6 feet high, ranging from Middle California to Oregon. The typical form of the 

 Atlantic States occurs in Washington Territory and the Rocky Mountains, and is nearly repeated 

 in Northern Asia. 



ORDER XCVII. ARISTOLOCHIACE.SI. 



Perennial herbs or shrubs, with alternate entire mostly cordate or reniform pedately 

 nerved petioled leaves, no stipules, and perfect flowers, the lurid or greenish perianth 

 with a valvate regularly or irregularly 3-lobed limb, the tube more or less adnate to 

 a 6-celled ovary, which becomes a many-seeded berry or 6-valved capsule; stamens 6 to 

 12, on the ovary and more or less adnate to the style, with extrorse anthers ; styles 

 usually 6, united at base ; seeds anatropous, in 1 or 2 rows on the central angle of 

 each cell, with fleshy rhaphe, and minute embryo in copious albumen. 



An order of 5 genera and nearly 200 species, chiefly of the warmer regions of the globe and 

 especially of tropical America. Most of them possess bitter-tonic or stimulant and often aromatic 

 properties, and some have long been known for their value in medicine. 



1. Asarum. Perianth short, 3-cleft. Stamens 12. Capsule globose. Acaulescent herbs, with 



apparently terminal flowers, 

 2 Aristolochia. Perianth tubular, contracted at the throat. Stamens 6. Capsule oblong. 



Twining shrubs, with supra-axillary flowers. 



1. ASARUM, Tourn. WILD GINGER. 



Perianth regular, campanulate, with the limb spreading or recurved, persistent, 

 3-cleft, the tube adherent to the ovary ; tips of the segments infolded in the bud. 

 Stamens 12, nearly free from the styles, at first reflexed, the alternate ones shorter; 

 connective continued beyond the anthers, pointed. Ovary more or less inferior : 

 styles 6, more or less united. Capsule globose, fleshy, usually bursting irregularly. 

 Seeds large, thick, in two rows in each cell. Nearly acaulescent herbs with 

 creeping aromatic rootstocks, the branches bearing 2 or 3 membranous sessile 

 caducous bracts at base and 2 closely approximate long-petioled reniform-cordate 

 leaves, with a pedunculate flower in the axil of the lower leaf. 



Besides the following species, three are found in the Atlantic States, one in Europe, one in the 

 Himalayas, and three or four in Japan. The California!! species have the ovary wholly inferior. 



1. A. Hartwegi, Watson. Rather stout, tufted, floccose-pubescent especially 

 below : leaves usually large (2 to 6 inches long), thick, cordate with large rounded 

 auricles, usually acute, quite glabrous above and mottled, the margin ciliate : pedun- 

 cle stout, a half to an inch long : ovary 6 lines broad : lobes of the calyx ovate, nar- 

 rowed to a linear apex, 1 to 1 inches long : filaments rather stout, nearly free from 



