ARISTOLOCHIA TRILOBATA. 
(three-lobed birth-wort.) 
class. order, 
GYNANDRIA. HEXANDRIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
ARISTOLOCHIA. 
Generic Character.- — Calyx none. Corolla monopetalous, tubular, bellying at the base. Germen 
angular. Capsule six-celled and six-valved. Seeds many. 
Specific Character. — Plant a twining shrub, growing from six to ten feet high. Stem smooth, 
slender, twining, yellow-green, slightly tinged with purple. jLeat^es cordate, three-lobed, smooth, dark- 
green on the upper surface, paler beneath, lobes obtuse. Flowers on thick twining peduncles. Corolla 
cylindrical, at the base formed like a bag ; extremity broken, lip cordate, cuspidate, extending to the 
length of six inches or more, dark brown, tinged with yellow, base green. 
Synonyms.— Aristolochiatrifida — Law. Encyclop. 2, 249. 
This species is a native of South America, where it grows in damp woods, and 
whence it was introduced in 1775. It is a stove climber of no mean appearance, 
growing freely, with little trouble, in a mixture of sandy heath mould and rich loam. 
The plant from which our drawing was made flowered in the nursery of Messrs. 
Young of Epsom, and continued in bloom for a long time, for although the flowers 
are very fugitive there is a constant succession all the latter end of the summer. 
Some of the species emit a very disagreeable odour, and indeed the scent of the 
whole is rather unpleasant. Yet, from the singular forms and colours of the flowers, 
almost all the kinds deserve a place in every hot-house, and perhaps none has 
greater claims than the present subject. 
The plant strikes readily from half-ripened cuttings, planted in sand under a 
bell-glass, and plunged in a little heat. 
The whole of the genus were formerly 
very popular for medicinal purposes, 
whence the name Ay^istolochia, or Birth- 
wort ; indeed, the A. serpentaria (figure) 
is still used, and the roots, which are the 
parts used, may be purchased of the 
chemists. 
Snake Root (Aristolochia serpentaria) ; 
a, the flower ; b, section of the same, 
showing the situation of the stamen and 
pistils, c; d, the stamen attached to the 
pistils, e. 
The A. trilohata may be obtained at 
almost any of the London and country 
nurseries for a trifling sum. 
