190 



POPULAR FLORA. 



III. Apetalous Division. 



74. BIRTHWORT FAMILY. Order ABISTOLOCHIACE^. 



Herbs or twining vines, with perfect and large flowers, the tube of the 3-lobed calyx 



coherent with the 6-celled 

 and many-seeded ovary. 

 Leaves mostly heart- 

 shaped or tidney-shaped, 

 and entire, on long foot- 

 stalks, alternate, or else 

 from the rootstock at the 

 surface of the ground. 

 Lobes of the calyx edge 

 to edge in the bud, usu- 

 ally dull-colored. 



471. Plant of Canada Asarum or 

 Wild-Ginger, in flower. 472 Magni- 

 fied flower divided lengthwise, and the 

 calyx spread out flat. 473. Flower, 

 with the lobes of the calyx cut away, 

 and the ovary cut acroas. 474. A sep- 

 arate stamen, more magnified ; outside 

 view. 475. Magnified seed divided 

 lengthwise. 



Stemless herbs, with a pair of leaves and a flower between them from the spicy-tasted 

 and creeping rootstocis: calyx short, 3-cleft or 3-lobed ; stamens 12, with filaments, 

 which are united only with the base of the thick 6-lobed style, and are pointed above 

 the anthers, {Jlsamra) Wild-Ginger. 



Twining shrubs or else low herbs: calyx a crooked tube, with a narrow throat and a 

 sHghtly 3-lobed spreading border: stamens 6, sessile on the outside of the 3 lobes of 

 the sessile stigma, i. c. two anthers or 4 cells to each lobe, attached to the stigma 

 by their whole length : fruit a 6-valved pod, filled with numerous flat seeds, 



{Aristoldchia) Bikthwokt. 



Birthwort. Aristoldchia. 



'■ Snakeeoot B. or Virginia Snakeroot. Herb 8' to 16' high; several stems from a tufted root, 

 downy ; flowers borne next the ground, in general shape much like the letter S ; leaves oblong- 

 heart-shaped or halberd-shaped. Rich woods ; becoming scarce. A. serpentdria. 

 % Pipe-vine B. A tall woody climber, with rounded kidney-shaped leaves, 8' or 12' broad when 

 full grown ; flower li' long, curved like a Dutch pipe ; greenish outside, and with the short 

 3-lobed border brown-purple within. Alleghany Mountains, or near them; and cultivated for 

 arbors. A- Siphxt. 



