380 
lxxvi. aristolochiacEjE. \_Aristol6chia. 
celled: ovules numerous. Style simple. Stigma rayed. Fruit 
3 — 6-celled, many-seeded. Albumen fleshy, with the minute 
embryo at its base. — Herbs or shrubs, often climbing. Leaves 
alternate. Wood without concentric zones. — Active emrnena- 
gogues. 
1. Ap.istolochia. Perianth tubular, very oblique : anthers 6, sessile on 
the style. 
2. Asarum. Perianth campanulate, equal, 3-cleft. Stamens 12. 
1. Aristolochia Linn. Birthwort. 
Perianth tubular, often swelling at the base, the mouth 
dilated on one side. Anthers 6, sessile on the short style. 
Stigma with 6 lobes. Capsule 6-celled. — Name originating in 
its supposed medicinal virtues. 
1. A. * Clemutitis L. ( common B ) ; creeping, stem erect 
simple, leaves heart-shaped stalked glabrous, flowers aggregate 
erect, lip oblong shortly acuminate. E. B. t. 398. 
Naturalized among old ruins in the east and south of England. If. 
6 — 9. — Flowers pale yellow, swollen at the base; the swollen part 
covered on the inside with stiff' hairs pointing downwards. When the 
flower is expanded it is not uncommon for a little insect ( Tipula 
pennicornis) to enter it, the stiff hairs preventing its egress until it has 
brushed off the pollen from the anthers upon the stigma : the peri- 
anth then withers, the hairs become flaccid, and the insect makes its 
escape. 
2. A'sarum Linn. Asarabacca. 
Perianth campanulate, 3 cleft. St am. 12, from the top of 
the germen, at the base of the style. Stigma with 6 lobes. Caps. 
6-celled. — Named from a, not, and aatpw, to adorn; because it 
was rejected from the garlands of flowers employed by the an- 
cients. 
1. A. * Europce'um L. ( Asarabacca ) ; leaves in pairs reniform 
obtuse. E. B. t. 1083. 
Woods in the North. Wiltshire, Lancashire, Westmoreland, and 
near Halifax. Near Linlithgow, g. 5. — Stem very short. Leaves 
2, petiolate, shining; from the axil of these 2 leaves springs a solitary, 
rather large, drooping joiner borne upon a short foot-stalk, of a green- 
ish-brown colour and coriaceous substance. Segments of the peri- 
anth incurved. Filaments pronuced beyond the cells of the anthers , 
as in the genus Paris. Roots aromatic, and said to be purgative and 
emetic. 
