404 KYCTAGINACE-E. (fOUR-O'CLOCK FAMILY.) 



2. ARISTOLOCHIA, Tourn. Birthwort. 



Calyx tubuhir ; the tube variously inflated above the ovary, mostly contracted 

 at the throat. Stamens 6 ; the sessile antiiers wiiolly adnate to the back of the 

 short and fleshy 3 - 6-lol)ed or an^'led stigma. Pod naked, 6-valved. Seeds very 

 flat. — Twininj,^ climbinjj, or sometimes upri;^ht perennial herbs or shrubs, with 

 alternate leaves and lateral or axillary greenish or lurid-purple flowers. (Named 

 from reputed medicinal properties.) 

 § 1. Calyx-tuhe bent like the letter S, eulanjcd at the two ends, the smnll limb obtnseh/ 



3-/ob(d: U7itheis contij/iwus in pairs (hiakitig 4 cells in a row under each of the 



three truncate lobes of the stigma ) : low herbs. 



1. A. Serpentkria, L. (Virginia Snakeroot.) Stems (8' -15' high) 

 branched at the base, pubescent; leaves ovate or oblong from a heart-shaped 

 base, or halberd-form, mostly acute or pointed ; flowers all next the root, short- 

 peduncled. — A narrow-leaved variety is A. sagittata, Muhl., A. hastata, Nutt., 

 &c. — Rich woods, Connecticut to Indiana and southward : not common except 

 near the Alleghany Mountains. July. — The fibrous, aromatic-stimulant root 

 is well known in medicine. 



§ 2. Calyx-Vibe strongly curved like a Dutch pipe, contracted at the mouth, the short 

 limb obscurely 3-lobed: anthers contiguous in jMiirs under each of the 3 short and 

 thick lobes of the stigma : twining shrubs : fioweis from one or two of the super- 

 posed accessor!/ axillary buds. 



2. A. Sipho, L'Her. (Pipe-Vine. Dutchman's Pipe.) Nearly gla- 

 brous; leaves round-kidney-shaped; peduncles with a clasping bract; calyx (1^' 

 long) with a brown-purple abrupt flat border. — Rich woods, Pcnn. to Kentucky, 

 and southward, along the mountains. May. — Stems sometimes 2' in diameter, 

 climbing trees : full-grown leaves 8'- 12' broad. 



3. A. tomentdsa, Sims. Downy or soft-hairy ; leaves round-heart-shaped, 

 very veiny (3' - 5' long) ; calyx yellowish, with an ohlicjue dark purple closed orifice 

 and a rugose refexed limb. — Rich woods, from S. Illinois southward. June. 



Order 83. NYCTAGIWACEiE. (Four-o'clock Family.) 



Herbs (or in the tropics often shrubs or trees), tcith mostly opposite and 

 entire leaves, stems tumid at the joints, a delicate tubular or funnel-form 

 calyx which is colored like a corolla, its persistent base constricted above the 

 l-celled 1-seeded ovary, and indurated into a sort of nut-like pericarp ; the 

 stamens few, slender, and hypogynous ; the embryo coiled around the out-' 

 side of mealy albumen, with broad foUaccous cotyledons. — Represented in 

 our gardens by the Four-o'clock, or Marvel of Peru (Mirabilis 

 Jalapa), in which the calyx is commonly mistaken for a corolla, the cup- 

 like involucre of each flower exactly imitating a calyx ; — and by a single 



1. OXYBAPHUS, Vahl. Oxybapiics. 



Flowers 1-5 in the same 5-lobed membranaceous broad and open invohure. 

 'which enlarges and is thin and reticulated in fruit. Calyx with a very short 



