ORDER 100. ARISTOLOCHIACE^E. 601 



COHORT 3. APETAL^E, 







OR MONOCHLAMYDEOUS ExoGENS. Dicotyledons with no 

 corolla, the calyx or perianth green or colored, consisting of 

 a single series of similar organs, or often wholly wanting. 



ORDER C. ARISTOLOCHIACE^E. BIRTHWORTS. 



Low herbs or climbing shrubs, with alternate leaves and perfect flowers. Perianth 

 tube adherent to the ovary, brown or dull, valvate in the bud. Stamens 6 to 12, 

 epigynous and adherent to the base of the styles. Ovary 6-celled, becoming a 6- 

 celled, many-seeded capsule or berry. Seed albuminous, embryo minute. Fig. 133. 



Genera 9, species 130, most abundant in the tropical countries of S. America, thinly diffused* 

 throughout the northern hemisphere. Properties tonic and stimulant. Both the following geii' 

 era are successfully employed in medicine. 



1. ASA V RUM, Tourn. WILD GINGER. (Gr. a, not, oeipd, a band, 

 because rejected in wreathing garlands.) Calyx campanulate, regular, 

 3-cleft ; stamens 12, placed upon the ovary, anthers adnate to the middle 

 or summit of the filaments ; style very short ; stigma 6-rayed ; fruit 

 fleshy, 6-celled, crowned with the calyx. It Herbs with creeping 

 rhizomes and 1 or 2 Ivs. on each branch. Fls. solitary. 



Leaves in pairs. Calyx lobes pointed, reflexed. Ovary -wholly adherent No. 1 



Leaves solitary. Calyx lobes obtuse, auberect. Ovary partly free Nos. 2,3 



1 A. Canadeiise L. Lvs. 2, broad-reniform, on long, opposite petioles with the 

 flower between ; calyx woolly, deeply 3-cleft, the segm. reflected. In rich, 

 shady soil, Can. to Ga. and W. States. Lvs. radical, large, 2 to 4' by 3 to 5', with 

 a deep sinus at base, and a soft, velvet-like surface. Fl. solitary, on a nodding 

 peduncle, and close to the ground, sometimes even buried just beneath the sur- 

 face. Cal. purplish, of 3 broad, long-pointed divisions abruptly spreading. Fil. 

 longer than the anthers, their tips (connectile) produced beyond them. May Jl. 

 The rhizome is a popular medicine, used in measles and whooping cough. 



2 A. Virginicum L. Lvs. solitary, orbicular-ovate, glabrous, coriaceous, deeply 

 cordate, entire, obtuse ; fl. subsessilo ; cal short, subcampanulate, glabrous exter- 

 nally. Grows in light soils among rocks, and Mts., Va., Ky. to Ga. A low, stem- 

 less plant, very similar in habit to the preceding. Each branch of the rhizome 

 bears a terminal leaf and a flower. Leaf 2 to 3' diam., very smooth, clouded 

 with spots, the petiole twice longer, lobes at base rounded and nearly closed. 

 Flower many times shorter than the petiole. Calyx segments obtuse, of a dusky 

 purple, greenish outside. Apr. 



3 A. arifdlmm MX. Lvs. solitary, broadly hastate, puberulent on the veins, thin, 

 with a deep sinus at base, the lobes obtusely angled and turned slightly outward ; 

 cal. infiated-urceolate, contracted above, with 3 very short, obtuse lobes at summit. 

 Eich soils, Va. to Fla. and La. Rhizomes slender, white. Petioles 2 to 3' long. 

 Lvs. 2 to 3' by 1 to 2', margins wavy. Fls. 9" long, roughish, purplish-brown as 

 long as their stalks. Mar. May. 



2. ARISTOLO'CHIA, Tourn. BIRTHWORT. (Gr. ap*<rrof, excellent, 

 io^em, child-birth; alluding to the medicinal properties.) Calyx 

 tubular, tube variously bent and inflated above the ovary, border un- 



