68 KEY AND FLORA 
23. LORANTHACEA. Mistietor FAmILy 
Parasitic shrubs or herbs, leaves opposite, leathery, without 
stipules. Flowers moncecious or dicecious, clustered or solitary ; 
perianth of both calyx and corolla, or of a calyx only, or some- 
times wanting, the limb epigynous; sepals 2-8. Stamens as 
many as the sepals, and opposite them. Ovary 1-celled; ovule 1. 
Fruit a berry.* 
PHORADENDRON Nutt. 
Evergreen, shrubby plants, parasitic on trees; branches 
greenish, jointed, and very brittle. Leaves leathery. Flowers 
diccious, in short jointed spikes. Staminate flowers globular, 
calyx 2-4-lobed, stamens sessile at the base of the lobes, 
anthers transversely 2-celled. Stigma sessile. Berry 1-seeded.* 
1. P. flavescens Nutt. American MistLeror. Very round, bushy; 
branches very brittle at the joints, opposite or whorled, 6 in. to 2 ft. 
long. Leaves flat, leathery, or somewhat fleshy, nearly veinless, obo- 
vate, entire, with short petioles. Flowering spikes solitary or 2-3 
together in the axils of the leaves. Berry roundish, white, glutinous. 
Parasitic on many deciduous trees.* 
24, ARISTOLOCHIACEZ. Durcuman’s Pipzk Famity 
Herbaceous plants, apparently stemless or with twining and 
leafy stems. Leaves alternate, without stipules, petioled, 
mostly roundish or kidney-shaped. Flowers axillary, solitary 
or clustered, bisexual. Calyx tubular, 3- or 6-lobed, usually 
colored. Petals none. Stamens 6-12, epigynous. Pistil 1; 
ovary mostly 6-celled, many-seeded.* 
I, ASARUM L. 
Perennial, apparently stemless, aromatic herbs, with slen- 
der, branching rootstocks. Leaves long-petioled, from kidney- 
shaped to halberd-shaped. Flowers axillary, peduncled. Calyx 
actinomorphie, 3-lobed, withering-persistent. Stamens 12, the 
filaments partially united with the style and usually prolonged 
beyond the anthers. Ovary 6-celled, with parietal placenta, 
many-seeded. Mature capsule roundish, often somewhat fleshy.* 
