190 



POPULAR FLORA. 



III. Apetalons Division. 



74. BIRTHWORT FAMILY. Order ARISTOLOCHIACEtE. 



Herbs or twining vines, 



with perfect and largo flowers, the tube of the 3-lobed calyx 



coherent with the 6-ceUed 

 and many-seeded ovary. 

 Leaves raostly heart- 

 shaped or kidney-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 Pl.inl of Canacl<T Asarum or 

 Wild-Ginger, 111 flower. 472 Magni- 

 fied flower divided lenglhwiae, and the 

 calyx spread out flat. 473. Flower, 

 Willi the lobes of the calyx cutaway, 

 and tile ovary cut across. 474 A 5cp- 

 aratestamen, more magnified ; nntaida 

 view. 475. Magnified seed divided 

 lengthwise. 



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

 and creeping rootstock: calyx short, 3-cleft or 8-lobed; stamens 12, with filaments, 

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

 the anthers, (Asarum) Wild-Gingek. 



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

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

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

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



{Aristolochia) Bikthwoet. 



Birthwort. ArisiolbcMa. 



1. Snakeroot B. or Virginia Snakeroot. Herb 8' to 15' 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. serpent aria. 



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



full gi-own ; flower 14' 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- Sipho. 



