Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 99 



BIRTHWORT FAMILY (Aristolochiaceae). 



A small family of low herbs or twining vines, with 

 but two genera and few species. 



WILD GINGER (Asarum canadense) may be found 

 flowering in rich woods during April and May, from 

 Me. to Mich, and southwards. It has two, large, 

 heart-shaped leaves on long petioles from the base; 

 deep green above and lighter below, soft, wooly and 

 handsomely veined. 



The leaves are very beautiful, but it is the solitary 

 flower that makes this plant so interesting. Small, 

 dully colored, on a weak, short stem that barely 

 raises it above ground and often leaves it concealed 

 by the dead leaves that carpet the woods in early 

 Spring. Really, the flower is quite attractive. Why 

 should it not raise its head that it might be noticed 

 by everybody? A careful watch will convince the ob- 

 server that all flowers are so constructed and so 

 placed that they serve the best interests of the plant. 

 So it is with this species. It blooms early, before 

 butterflies and moths appear; it needs no bright col- 

 ors to attract insect friends, as the urn-shaped flower 

 cup makes an excellent refuge for many small, early 

 flies. It also provides these flies with an abundance 

 of pollen for food; in return, they unwittingly carry 

 some away with them on their bodies and leave it at 

 the door, or stigma, of another blossom. The stigma 

 of this flower matures before its anthers ripen so 

 only pollen from another, earlier blossom will serve 

 to quicken the seed. 



The flower is bell-shaped, with three short, sharply- 

 pointed, spreading lobes; six stamens with short an- 

 thers and a thick style with six radiating stigmas. 

 Another species (grandiflorum), found in Va. and N. 

 C. has but one leaf and flowers twice as large, or two 

 inches in length. 



