No. 23] Birthwort (Aristolockiacece). 163 



Fruit, winged around like elm-seeds. Athene, smooth, 

 black, with sides hollowed and ovate-elliptical. 



Found, common in thickets from Canada to Florida and 

 westward. 



A slender vine eight to twelve feet in length, smooth, 

 twining over high bushes ; its winged fruit more showy 

 than its blossoms. 



No. 23.— Family ARISTOLOCHlACE^. (Birthwort 



Fam.) 



Genus Aristolochia, Tourn. 



From two Greek words meaning "excellent" and "childbirth,"' with reference to 

 supposed medicinal qualities. 



Fig. 79. — Pipe-Vine. Dutchman's Pipe. Wild Ginger. Big 

 Sarsaparilla. A. Sipho, L'Her. 



Flowers, dull brown, solitary, along the sides of the 

 branches. Corolla, lacking. Calyx, one and a half 

 inches in length, the tube inflated, and strongly curved 

 like a large pipe ; contracted at the mouth, obscurely 

 three-lobed, with a brown-purplish flat border. 

 Flower-stem, long, with a clasping egg-shaped bract 

 near the base. Stamens, six. Anthers, in pairs, 

 united to the three short thick lobes of the stigma. 

 Seed-case, adherent to the calyx or partly so, six-celled, 

 many-seeded. May, June. 



Leaves, simple, alternate, entire, six to twelve inches across, 

 broad heart-shape ; sprinkled with soft hairs, other- 

 wise nearly smooth. Stipules, none. 



Fruit, usually three to four inches in length, six-angled, 

 six-celled. Seeds, many, very flat. A capsule. 



