AKISTOLOCHIACE^. £97 



Order 85. ARISTOLOOHIACE^.— Birthwort Family 



Climbing shrubs or herbs, with alternate simple pdiolate leave and perfect axillary, 

 tolilary, brown or lurid colored flowers, with the, calyx coherent below with the 2-ce!kd 

 ovary, which forms a mmy~aee.aed 0-cclled capsule or berry in fruit. Stamens 6 to 12,. 

 mora or \cm unitod with the stylo; anthers adnate, cxlrorse. S^em anatropou-3, 

 with a minute embryo in tlcaby albumen- 



1. AS ARUM, Tourn. Asarabacca. 



An anoient name, thought to be derived from a, privative, and seiron, baund, be- 

 cause it is rejected from garlands. 



Perianth bell-shaped 5 ; limb 3-parted, the tube wholly 

 adherent to the ovary. Stamens 12 ; filaments awl-shaped, 

 coherent with the apex of the ovarj. Styles united into a. 

 short column, bearing 6 radiating crested stigmas at tho 

 apex. Fruit fleshy, globular, crowned with the per- 

 sistent calyx, many-seeded. JStemless herbs, with aromatic- 

 pungent creeping rootstocks. bearing a nodding flower close to lh& 

 ground, between the long petioles of the kidney shaped leaves. 



A. Canadense, L. Wild Ginger. Coltsfoot. 



Downy; leaves a. terminal pair, broad kidney-shaped; pzria.nth woolly, cloffc to- 

 the base:, the segments roflexed. 



Hillsides in rich woods. May. Ltaves 3 to 4 intiies wide, on long and hairy 

 peti >les. Flowers brownish purple insido. The root has aa agreeable and ara« 

 niitio flavor. 



2. ARISTOLOCHIA, Tourn. Birthwort. 



From the Greek; in allusion to its medicinal virtues. 



Perianth tubular, the tube variously inflated above the 

 ovary, dilated at the apex and ligulate. Anthers 6, sub- 

 sessile, inserted on the style. Stigma 3 to 6-parted or lobed. 

 Capsule 6-sided, 6-valvcd, many-seeded. Seeds flat, — 

 Twining, climbing, or sometimes upright perennial herbs or 

 shrubs, with alternate leaves and lateral or axillary greenish 

 or lurid-purple flowers. 



1. A. Serpentaria, L. Virginia SnUkereof. 



Herbaceous, low, pubescent; leaves ovate or oblong, from a heart-shaped kasa, 0»^ 

 halbert-form^mostly acute or. pointed ; peduncles nearly radical ; perianth strongly 

 bont and Inflated at the curvature, the border obtusely S-Iobed. 



IUi-h woods; common near the Alleghany Mountains. July. Foot consisting of 

 numerous coarse fibres, aromatic-stimulent. Stem 8 to 12 im-hes hi»h, pubescent, 

 geniculate and knotty at the lv.se. Flowers purplish-brown, bent like tho letter 8, 

 inflated at the two cuds. Stigma 3-lobtd. 



3. A. Sipho, L'Her. Dutchman* s Pipe. 



Woody, twining and climbing, smooth ; leaves round-heart ehftped, slightly downy 



