BIRTHWORT FAMILY. Aristolochiaceae. 
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BIRTHWORT FAMILY. Aristolochiaceae 
A rather small family, chiefly of warm countries, but 
widely distributed; herbs or shrubs; the leaves alternate or 
from the root, with leaf-stalks, more or less heart-shaped, 
without stipules; the flowers perfect, mostly large, sym- 
metrical or irregular in form, with or without a corolla; the 
calyx with three or six lobes, or irregular; the stamens six 
to many, inserted on the pistil; the ovary wholly or partly 
inferior; the fruit a mostly six-celled capsule, containing 
many seeds. 
There are several kinds of Asarum. 
The handsome leaves of this perennial 
Wild Ginger E : 
Asarum Hartwégi 20€ 1ts conspicuous feature. They have 
Brown long, hairy leaf-stalks and are heart- 
Spring shaped and toothless, from three to five 
Cal., Oreg. 
inches broad, dark rich green, prettily 
veined and often also beautifully mottled with white, 
smooth on the upper surface and hairy on the under. We 
notice them immediately in the damp, dark woods they 
live in, but unless we look carefully we miss the single, 
large, strange, purplish-brown flower, the color of dead 
leaves, which nestles close to the ground as if trying to 
hide itself. This has twelve stamens, with stout filaments, 
and six styles, united at the base. There are no petals, 
but the hairy calyx has three lobes, which are sometimes 
an inch and a half long, and have long points like tails. 
The seed-vessel is roundish, crowned by the withered 
calyx and stamens. The rootstock cannot be used as a 
substitute for ginger, but smells and tastes very aromatic 
and pungent. This resembles the Wild Ginger of the 
East, but is handsomer. 
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