BIRTH WORT FAMILY. 373 



I ASARITM. Low stemless herbs, with one or two leaves on long petioles, and a flower 

 at the end of a creeping aromatic rootstock, the flowers therefore close to the ground. 

 Calyx regular, with 3 equal lobes. Stamens 12, distinct, borne on the apex of the 

 ovary or the base of the stout style, usually pointed beyond the anther. Seeds large, 

 thickish, in a rather fleshy and irregularly bursting pod. 



2. ARISTOLOCHIA. Leafy-stemmed herbs or woody twiners. Calyx tubular, variously 

 irregular, often curved. Filaments none ; anthers adherent directly and by their 

 whole inner face to the outside of the 8-6-lobed stigma. Seeds very flat, in a dry 6- 

 valved pod. 



1. ASARUM, ASARABACCA, WILD GINGER. (Ancient name, 

 of obscure derivation.) On hillsides in rich woods ; flowers spring. 2/ 



* Filaments slender, much longer than the short anthers ; style 1, thick, bear- 

 ing thick stigmas ; leaves a single pair with a peduncle between them. 



A. Canadense, Linn. CANADA WILD GINGER, sometimes called SNAKE- 

 ROOT. Soft-pubescent ; leaves broadly heart-shaped or kidney-shaped, 

 not evergreen; calyx bell-shaped, but cleft down to the adherent ovary, 

 brown-purple inside, the abruptly spreading lobes pointed. Kich woods, 

 commonest N. 



* * Filaments short or almost none ; anthers oblong-linear ; styles 6, each 

 Z-cleft, bearing the stigma below the cleft; leaves thick and evergreen, 

 smooth, often mottled, usually only one each year; rootstocks in a close 

 cluster. 



A. Virgfnicum, Linn. VIRGINIA W. Along the Alleghanies, Va., 

 S. ; leaves small, rounded, heart-shaped ; calyx tubular-bell-shaped with 

 a somewhat narrowed throat and broad short lobes, the base coherent 

 only with base of the ovary. 



A. arifdlium, Michx. Va., S., has larger, somewhat halberd-shaped 

 leaves, and very short and blunt lobes to the calyx. 



2. ARISTOLOCHIA, BIRTHWORT. (Ancient name, from medicinal 

 properties.) Cells of the anthers in our species 4, in a horizontal row 

 under each of the 3 lobes of the stigma, i.e., two contiguous 2-celled 

 anthers in each set, or 6 in all. Flowers in and above the axils. Sev- 

 eral curious species in greenhouses. 



* Flowers all next the root, curved like the letter S, contracted in the 



middle and at the throat. 



A. Serpentaria, Linn. VIRGINIA SNAKEROOT (used in medicine). 

 Rich woods, chiefly in Middle States and S. ; low, downy herb ; stems 

 clustered, about 1 high ; leaves ovate or oblong and heart-shaped, some- 

 times halberd-form, acute. 2/ 



* * Flowers from accessory axillary buds, strongly curved, contracted at 



the mouth. 



A. Slpho, L'Her. PIPE VINE, DUTCHMAN'S PIPE (from the shape of 

 the curved calyx). Rich woods from Penn., along the mountains S., 

 and planted for arbors ; very tall-climbing woody twiner, smooth, but the 

 rounded heart-shaped leaves often downy beneath, these becoming 8'-12 f 

 broad; peduncles with a clasping bract, drooping; calyx !' long, in- 

 flated above the ovary, narrowing above, contracted at the throat, the 

 flat border brown-purple and obscurely 3-lobed ; flowers late spring. 



A. tomentdsa, Sims. A more slender woody climber, with smaller, 

 rounder, and very veiny, downy leaves, and yellowish flower, with an 

 oblique, almost closed, brownish orifice, the borders reflexed ; flowers 

 late spring or summer. N. C., S. and W. 



