142 



ARISTOLOCHIACE^E. 



yellow: filaments many, very slender, unequal, the longest almost 

 equalling the petals; anthers minute, oval: capsule 1 in. long or more: 

 seeds angular, tuberculate. Common in the Mt. Diablo Kange. 



* * Flowers large; petals about 10^ stamens very numerous. 



4. M. hi'victuilis (Dougl.), Torr. & Gray. Biennial, stout, Branched 

 above, 23 ft. high; stem white, scarcely roughened: leaves lanceolate, 

 sinuate-toothed, 28 in. long: fl. sessile on short branches, 34 in. 

 broad, light yellow, diurnal: calyx-tube naked; segments 1 in. long or 

 more: petals oblanceolate, acute, almost equalled by the numerous 

 stamens: capsule 1^ in. long, 34 lines in diameter: seeds minutely 

 tuberculate, \y 2 lines broad. In the mountain districts at low altitudes, 

 and on the plains near the foothills. July October. 



ORDER XLVI. ARISTOLOCHIACE/E. 



Shrubs or perennial herbs, with alternate entire mostly cordate or 

 reniform exstipulate leaves, and solitary apetalous perfect flowers. Peri- 

 anth lurid-purple or greenish, with a valvate regularly or irregularly 

 3-lobed limb: the tube more or less adnate to a 6-celled ovary, which 

 becomes a 6-valved capsule, or a berry. Stamens 612, on the ovary, 

 more or less adnate to the style; anthers extrorse. Styles usually 6, 

 united at the base. Seeds in 1 or 2 rows in each cell. 



1. ARISTOLOCHIA, Diosc. (PIPE-VINE). Perianth very irregular; 

 tube inflated above the ovary, deciduous from it. Anthers 6, sessile and 

 adnate to the short simple style. Stigma 3 6-lobed or -angled. Fruit 

 capsular, 6 -angled, 6-valved, septicidally dehiscent. 



1. A. Californica, Torr. A deciduous shrubby climber, 610 ft. 

 high, pubescent with short silky hairs: leaves ovate-cordate, obtuse or 

 acutish, 24 in. long, short-petioled : peduncles slender, 12 in. long, 

 with a small cordate or obovate bract in the middle : calyx-tube broadly 

 saccate and doubled upon itself, 1 1J in. long from the base to the top 

 of the curvature, y 2 in. broad, little contracted at the throat; limb 

 bilabiate, the upper lip of 2 broad obtuse lobes, with a disk-like thicken- 

 ing on the inner side: anthers contiguous in pairs under each of the 3 

 broad stigma-lobes: ovary linear-clavate, pubescent: capsule spongy- 

 coriaceous, obovate, attenuate to a slender base, \% *& long, 6- winged; 

 spongy. Banks of streams; not very common. April. 



2. AS ARUM, Diosc. (WILD GINGER). Perianth regular, campanulate; 

 limb 3-cleft, persistent, the tips of the segments infolded in the bud. 

 Stamens 12, nearly free from the styles, the alternate ones shorter; 

 connective continued beyond the anthers, pointed. Styles 6, more or 

 less united. Capsule globose, fleshy, irregularly dehiscent. Seeds large, 

 thick, in 2 rows in each cell. 



