352 ARISTOLOCHIACEAE (BIRTH WORT FAMILY) 



1. ASARUM [Tourn.] L. ASARABACCA. WILD GINGER 



Calyx regular; the limb 3-cleft or -parted. Petals 0-3, when present rudi 

 mentary, awl- shaped, alternate with the calyx-lobes. Tips of the filaments 

 usually continued beyond the anther into a point. Capsule rather fleshy, globu- 

 lar, bursting irregularly or loculicidal. Seeds large, thick. Stemless perennial 

 herbs, with aromatic-pungent creeping root-stocks bearing 2 or 3 scales, then one 

 or two kidney-shaped or heart-shaped leaves on long petioles, and a short- 

 peduncled flower close to the ground in the lower axil ; in spring. (An ancient 

 name, of obscure derivation.) 



1. Calyx-tube wholly adnate to the ovary, the tips inflexed in bud ; filaments 

 slender, much longer than the short anthers ; style barely Q-lobed at the sum- 

 mit, with 6 radiating thick stigmas ; leaves a single pair, unspotted. 



1. A. canadense L. Soft-pubescent ; leaves membranaceous, kidney- shaped, 

 more or less pointed (1-1.5 dm. wide when full grown); calyx bell-shaped, the 

 upper part of the short-pointed lobes more or less spreading, brown-purple inside. 

 Rich woods ; common, especially northw. Var. REFLEXUM (Bicknell) Robin- 

 son. Calyx-segments short, deltoid, early and rather abruptly reflexed. (A. 

 reflexum Bicknell.) Ct., south w. and westw. Var. ACUMINATUM Ashe. 

 Calyx-segments caudate-acuminate. (A. acuminatum Bicknell.) From Ct. 

 westw. ; the commonest form in the prairie states. 



2. Calyx-tube inflated bell- or flask-shaped, its base adnate to the lower half of 

 the ovary limb 3-cleft, short ; anthers sessile or nearly so, oblong-linear ; 

 styles 6, fleshy, diverging, 2-cleft, bearing a thick extrorse stigma below the 

 cleft ; leaves thickish, persistent, usually only one each year, often whitish- 

 mottled; peduncle very short; rootstocks clustered, ascending. HEXASTYLIS 

 Raf. (1 and 2 connect in foreign species.) 



2. A. virginicum L. Nearly glabrous ; leaves round-heart-shaped (about 5 

 cm. wide) ; calyx short, campanulate, about 2 cm. long, reticulated within ; anthers 

 pointless. (A. minus Ashe ; Hexastylis virginica Small.) W. Va. and Va. to 

 Ga., in the mts. 



A. HETEROPHYLLUM Ashe (with " campanulate " calyx and "oval" seed) 

 and A. MEMMING^RI Ashe (with "urceolate' 1 calyx and " sharply triangular " 

 seed) cannot be satisfactorily distinguished in the material at hand. 



3. A. grandiflbrum (Michx.) Small. Closely similar in habit and foliage ; 

 calyx very large, open-campanulate, 2.5-5 cm. long. (A. macranthum Small ; 

 A. Shuttleworthii Britten; Hexastylis Shuttleworthii Small.) Mts. of Va., 

 Tenn., and N. C. 



4. A. arifblium Michx. Leaves halberd-heart-shaped (6-15 cm. long) ; calyx 

 short-tubular, with very short and blunt lobes ; anthers obtusely short-pointed. 

 (Hexastylis Small.) Va. to Fla. and La. A form (not always distinguishable) 

 with a more flask-shaped calyx has been described as A. Huthii Ashe. 



2. ARISTOLdCHIA [Tourn.] L. BIRTHWORT 



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

 sessile anthers wholly adnate to the short and fleshy 3-6-lobed or -angled style. 

 Capsule naked, septicidally 6-valved. Seeds very flat. Twining, climbing, or 

 sometimes upright perennial herbs or shrubs, with alternate leaves and lateral or 

 axillary greenish or lurid-purple flowers. (Named from reputed medicinal proper- 

 ties). 



* Calyx-tube bent like the letter 8, enlarged at the two ends, the small 

 limb obtusely 3-lobed; low herbs. 



1. A. Serpentiria L. (VIRGINIA SNAKEROQT.) Stems (1.2-4.5 dm. high) 

 branched at 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. Rich woods, Ct. to Fla., w, to Mich., Mo., and La. July. The 

 fibrous aromatic-stimulant root is well known in medicine. 



