Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 95 



Wild Ginger (Aristolochiaceae) 



By Roland Rice 



Growing under the dim light of the mighty Redwood trees and 

 in the cool places of the forests of the Coast Range and Sierras, the 

 Wild Ginger creeps out of the ground in the late spring and early 

 summer to unfurl its strange blooms. It seems as though Nature 

 had tried to camouflage these flowers by making them look like big 

 spiders lurking under the large, beautiful, heart-shaped leaves. The 

 leaves are a rich, dark green and have a mottled appearance. 



Both the leaves and the creeping root stocks are fragrant and 

 spice-like when crushed in the hands, and so the plants may be 

 recognized when the flowers are gone. They are stemless plants, 

 and the beautiful leaves grow from the root stock. The flower 

 buds spring from the axils of the leaves. The name Wild Ginger 

 was given to the plants because of their spice-like taste and fra- 

 grance ; it is not related, however, to the ginger of commerce. The 

 latter is a perennial reed-like plant from three to four feet high and 

 has been cultivated in India and China since the beginning of his- 

 tory. Our plants, Asamm caudatum, etc., are members of the 

 Aristolochiaceae or Birthroot family. The word Asamm is of 

 obscure and doubtful origin, but the family name, Aristolochia, is 

 Latin, and means a plant useful in childbirth. The many plants of 

 this family group are scattered throughout the world and some, were 

 formerly used medicinally. Our plants seem to have no medicinal 

 qualities, but it has been suggested that a sachet powder could be 

 made from the creeping rootstocks. Fortunately this has not been 

 done commercially, and we hope that the 'quaint little plant with its 

 beautiful leaves and strange, spider-like blooms will always delight 

 those fortunate in finding it in the seclusion of the forest depths, 

 where it plays its humble part in the life of Nature and its ways. 



There are three species of Asamm, or Wild Ginger, to be found 

 in California. A. caudatum Lindl. grows in the coast Redwood 

 district from Monterey northward. A. hartwegii Wats, is found 

 in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and throughout the yellow pine 

 belt at four to seven thousand foot elevations. A. lemmonii Wats, 

 is a rare species found growing near the fallen logs of the giants 

 in the Merced Grove of the Big Trees. The flowers of the last are 

 smaller and the leaves have a lighter coloring than the others. The 

 flowers of the three species are pale chocolate or purplish-brown in 

 color, and are quite a novelty. 



Children have found the delightfully quaint phrase, " Little 

 Brown Jugs," appropriate for naming these blossoms. The calyx 

 lobes of the blooms have three tail-like appendages, which may be 

 from one to two and a half inches long ; so the children's thimble-like 

 "Jugs" would have three handles. 



