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ARISTOLOCHIACE^. 



Aristolochia. 



Group 1. Flowers perfect, with a conspicuous or petaloid calyx. Ovary of several 

 cells, with numerous ovules in each cell. — Herbs or climbing shrubs. 



Order LXXXII. ARISTOLOCHIACEiE. Juss. The Birthwort Tribe. 



Calyx (corolla of Linnaean botanists) with the base more or less united with the 

 ovary ; the limb coriaceous, valvate. Stamens 6-12, inserted on an epigynous 

 disk, or confluent with the base of the style : filaments very short : anthers 

 2-celled, opening longitudinally. Ovary 6- (rarely 3 - 4-) celled : stigmas 

 radiate. Fruit a capsule or berry, 3 — 6-celled, many-seeded. Seeds with a 

 prominent raphe. Embryo minute in fleshy albumen. 



1. ARISTOLOCHIA. Tourn. ; Endl. gen. 2161. birthwort. 



[ Named from the Greek, in allusion to its supposed medicinal powers.] 



Calyx tubular, ventricose above the ovary, often variously curved ; the limb dilated, oblique, 

 often extended into a lip which is entire or 2 - 3-lobed. Stamens 6 (rarely 12?), inserted 

 on an epigynous disk, and adhering to the sides of the style : anthers sessile or nearly so. 

 Ovary 6-celled : ovules numerous, horizontal : style short and thick : stigma 6-parted or 

 -lobed and radiate. Capsule 6-celled, coriaceous, septicidal. Seeds numerous, ovoid, with 

 a large fungous raphe. — Herbs or shrubs, erect or twining. Leaves more or less cordate, 

 often lobed. Peduncles one- or many-flowered ; the flowers often large, and mostly of a 

 brownish or greenish color. 



1. Aristolochia Serpentaria, Linn. (Plate XCI.) Virginia Snakeroot. 



Herbaceous ; stem erect, flexuous ; leaves cordate-oblong, acuminate ; peduncles nearly 

 radical ; calyx sigmoid , the orifice 2-lipped. — Linn. sp. 2. p. 961 ; "Jacq. hort. Schcenb. 3. 

 t. 385 ;" Miclix. fl. 1. p. 162 ; Pursh, ft. I. p. 596 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 511 ; Bigel. med. hot. 

 t. 49, and fl. Bost. p. 328 ; Torr. compend. p. 323 ; Beck, hot. p. 309 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. 

 p. 515. 



Root perennial, consisting of a bunch of long coarse fibres, of a strong aromatic and 

 bitterish taste. Stem 8-12 inches high, simple or branched at the base, nearly naked below, 

 slender, pubescent. Leaves 2-4 inches long, on short petioles, 3-nerved, cordate and some- 

 times a little auriculate at the base. Flowers on crooked scaly peduncles, often concealed 

 among decaying leaves. Calyx about an inch long ; the tube bent like the letter S, purplish 

 brown ; the orifice somewhat 3-lobed. Anthers 12 (or 6, each 2-lobed and the lobes 2-celled?), 



