68 KEY AND FLORA 



23. LORANTHACE^. MISTLETOE FAMILY 



Parasitic shrubs or herbs, leaves opposite, leathery, without 

 stipules. Flowers monoecious or dioecious, clustered or solitary ; 

 perianth of both calyx and corolla, or of a calyx only, or some- 

 times wanting, the limb epigynous ; sepals 2-8. Stamens as 

 many as the sepals, and opposite them. Ovary 1-celled ; ovule 1. 



Fruit a berry.* 



PHORADENDRON Nutt. 



Evergreen, shrubby plants, parasitic on trees ; branches 

 greenish, jointed, and very brittle. Leaves leathery. Flowers 

 dioecious, in short jointed spikes. Staminate flowers globular, 

 calyx 2-4-lobed, stamens sessile at the base of the lobes, 

 anthers transversely 2-celled. Stigma sessile. Berry 1-seeded.* 



1. P. flavescens Nutt. AMERICAN MISTLETOE. Very round, bushy; 

 branches very brittle at the joints, opposite or whorled, 6 in. to 2 ft. 

 long. Leaves flat, leathery, or somewhat fleshy, nearly veinless, obo- 

 vate, entire, with short petioles. Flowering spikes solitary or 2-3 

 together in the axils of the leaves. Berry roundish, white, glutinous. 

 Parasitic on many deciduous trees.* 



24. ARISTOLOCHLA.CE.ffi. DUTCHMAN'S PIPE FAMILY 



Herbaceous plants, apparently stemless or with twining and 

 leafy stems. Leaves alternate, without stipules, petioled, 

 mostly roundish or kidney-shaped. Flowers axillary, solitary 

 or clustered, bisexual. Calyx tubular, 3- or 6-lobed, usually 

 colored. Petals none. Stamens 6-12, epigynous. Pistil 1 ; 

 ovary mostly 6-celled, many-seeded.* 



I. ASARUM L. 



Perennial, apparently stemless, aromatic herbs, with slen- 

 der, branching rootstocks. Leaves long-petioled, from kidney- 

 shaped to halberd-shaped. Flowers axillary, peduncled. Calyx 

 actinomorphic, 3-lobed, withering-persistent. Stamens 12, the 

 filaments partially united with the style and usually prolonged 

 beyond the anthers. Ovary 6-celled, with parietal placentae, 

 many-seeded. Mature capsule roundish, often somewhat fleshy.* 



