AKlSTOLOCHIACEiE. (bIKTHWORT FAMILY.) 359 



Division HI. APETALOUS EX6gEN0US PLANTS. 



Corolla none ; the floral envelopes in a single series (calyx), oi 

 Bometimes wanting altogether. 



Order 87. ARISTOLOCHIACEiE. (Birthwort Fam.) 



Climbing shrubs, or low herbs, with perfect flowers, the conspicuous lurid 

 calyx (mlvate in the bud') coherent below with the S-celled ovary, which forms 

 a many-seeded G-celledpod or berry in fruit. Stamens 6-12, more or less 

 united unth the style: anthers adnate, extrorse. — Leaves petioled, mostly 

 heart-shaped and entire. Seeds anatropous, with a large fleshy raphe, and 

 a minute embryo in fleshy albumen. 



1. ASAKUM, Toum. Asababacoa. Wild Ginger. 



Calyx regular; the limb 3-clcft or parted. Stamens 12, with more or less 

 distinct filaments, their tips usually continued beyond the anther into a point. 

 Fruit fleshy, globular, bursting irregularly. — Stemless herbs with aromatic- 

 pungent creeping rootstocks bearing 2-3 kidney-shaped or heart-shaped leaves 

 on long petioles, and a short-pedunclod flower close to the ground. (An ancient 

 name, of obscure derivation.) 



4 1. ASAKUM Proper. — Calyx-tube wholly coherent with the ovary : filaments 

 slender, united only witli the base of the style, much longer than the short anthers : 

 styles united into one, which is barely &-lobed at the summit, and unth 6 radiating 

 thick stigmas : leaves membranaceous, unspotted, on flowering stems viostly a single 

 pair, with the peduncle between them. 



1. A. Ca.na.dense, L. Soft-pubescent; leaves kidney-shaped, more or 

 less pointed (4' -5' wide when full grown) ; calyx bell-shaped, with the upper 

 part of the acute lobes widely and abruptly spreading, brown-purple inside ; 

 stamens awn-tipped. — HiU-sides in rich woods ; common, especially northward, 

 and along the AUeghanies. April, May. 



§ 2. HETEROTROPA. — Calyx-tube somewhat inflated below and contracted at 

 the throat, only its base coherent mth the lower part of the ovary ; the limb 3-deft, 

 short: filaments very shorter none: anthei-s oblong-linear : styles 6, fieshy, diverging, 

 2-clefl, each bearing a thiclc extrorse stigma bdow the cleft : leaves thicHsh, per- 

 sistent, the upper surface often whitish-mottled, alternate on the rootstock; pedmide 

 very short. 



2. A. Virginiciim, L. Leaves round-heart-sluiped {1^'- 2' -wide) ; calyx 

 venti-icose-bell-shaped ; anthers pointless. — Virginia, and southward, in and near 

 the monntains. May. 



:i. A. arifdlium, Michx. Leaves halberd-heart-shaped (2' - 4' long) ; 

 calyx oblong-tubular, with very short and blunt lobes ; anthers obtusdy short. 

 pointed. — Virginia, and southward. May. 



