ARISTOLOCHIACEJi. (BIRTHWORT FAMILY.) 403 



Division III. APETALOUS EXOGENOUS PLANTS. 



Corolla none ; the floral envelopes in a single series (caly x), or 

 sometimes wanting altogether. 



Order 82. ARISTOL.OCHIACE3E. (Birthwort Family.) 



Twining shrubs, or low herbs, with perfect flowers, the conspicuous lurid 

 calyx valcate in the bud and coherent {at beast at the base) ivith the 6-celled 

 ovary, which forms a many-seeded 6-celled pod or berry in fruit. Stamens 

 6-12, more or less united with the style : anthers adnate, extrorse. — Leaves 

 petioled, mostly heart-shaped and entire. Seeds anatropous, with a large 

 fleshy rhaphe, and a minute embryo in fleshy albumen. A small family of 

 bitter-tonic or stimulant, sometimes aromatic plants. 



1. AS ARUM, Tourn. Asarabacca. Wild Ginger. 



Calyx regular; the limb 3-cleft or parted. Stamens 12, with more or less 

 distinct filaments, their tips usually continued beyond the anther into a point. 

 Pod rather fleshy, globular, bursting irregularly. Seeds large, thick. — Stem- 

 less herbs, with aromatic-pungent creeping rootstocks, bearing 2 or 3 scales, then 

 one or two kidney-shaped or heart-shaped leaves on long petioles, and termi- 

 nated by a short-peduncled flower, close to the ground ; in spring. (An ancient 

 name, of obscure derivation.) 



§ 1. .Calyx-tube wholly coherent ivith the ovary, the tips inflexed in bud: filaments 

 slender, united only with the base of the style, much longer than the short anthers : 

 styles united into one, which is barely 6-lobed at the summit, and ivith 6 radiating 

 thick stigmas : leaves unspotted, a single pair, with the peduncle between them. 



1. A. Canadense, L. Soft-pubescent; leaves membranaceous, kidney- 

 shaped, more or less pointed (4' -5' wide when full grown) ; calyx bell-shaped, 

 with the upper part of the short-pointed lobes widely and abruptly spreading, 

 brown-purple inside ; at each sinus is usually a small awl-shaped appendage 

 (abortive petal). — Hillsides in rich woods : common, especially northward. 



2. Calyx-tube inflated bell-shaped, somewhat contracted at the throat, only its base 

 coherent with the lower half of the ovary ; the limb 3-clefl, short : filaments very 

 short or none: anthers oblong-linear: styles 6, fleshy, diverging, 2-cleft, each bear- 

 ing a thick extrorse stigma below the cleft: leaves thickish, persistent, usually only 

 one each year, the upper surface often whitish-mottled : peduncle very short : root- 

 stocks clustered, ascending. , 



2. A. Virginicum, L. Nearly glabrous ; leaves round-heart-shaped (about 

 2* wide) ; calyx short, reticulated within ; anthers pointless. — Virginia, and 

 southward, in and near the mountains. 



3. A. arifdlium, Michx. Leaves halberd-heart-shaped (2' '- 4' long) ; calyx 

 oblong-tubular, with very short and blunt lobes ; anthers obtusely short-pointed. -— 

 Virginia and southward. 



