130 Aristolochiaceae 
ARISTOLOCHIACEAE Birthwort Family 
Herbs (ours) or shrubs, acaulescent or with stem-like rhizome only (ours), or 
with erect or twining stems. Leaves alternate (ours) or basal, petioled, mostly cordate or 
reniform (so in ours); stipules none. Flowers axillary or terminal, solitary (ours) or 
clustered, perfect, mostly large, regular (ours) or irregular. Perianth adherent to the 
ovary at least below; 3-lobed (ours) or 6-lobed or irregular. Stamens 6 to many, on the 
ovary. Ovary wholly or partly inferior. Fruit a capsule, mostly 6-celled (so in ours). 
Seeds many, ovoid or oblong, angled or flat, smooth or wrinkled. 
ASARUM WILD GINGER 
Rhizome ginger-like to taste, bearing several scales and 1—2 leaves; roots thick, 
fibrous-fleshy. Leaves entire, evergreen (ours); petioles very long. Flowers brown- 
purple or mottled, on long peduncles, on or very near the ground. Perianth campanulate 
or hemispheric. Stamens 12. Placentae parietal, intruded. Fruit coriaceous, sub- 
globose or hemispheric, dehiscent longitudinally or bursting irregularly. Seed flat. In 
damp forests. (Said to be from Gk. a—not, seiro=to bind; because it withers too 
easily to use for garlands.) 
A. Leaves not marked with white; free tip of connective much shorter than the anther; 
ovary about 8 mm. wide; seed 3 mm. long. W. C. E. 
A. caudatum Lindl. 
AA. Leaves marked with white above; free tip of connective |—2 times as long as 
the anther; ovary about 12 mm. wide; seed 4 mm. long. W. 
A. hértwigi Wats. (Mottled Wild Ginger) 
a 
POLYGONACEAE Buckwheat Family 
Herbs or herbaceous twining vines or shrubs or trees (not ours) ; juice watery, often 
acid or acrid. Stems jointed when sufficiently elongated. Leaves alternate or opposite 
or whorled, simple, mostly entire; stipules sheathing, united, or none. Inflorescence vari- 
ous. Flowers regular, perfect or monoicous or dioicous or polygamous. Perianth 2—6- 
cleft or -parted; segments more or less imbricated, often petal-like, sometimes winged in 
fruit. Stamens 2—9; filaments distinct (ours) or united into a ring. Ovary superior, 
1-celled; ovule |; style 2—4-cleft or -parted; stigmas capitate or tufted or 2-cleft. Fruit 
an akene, lens-shaped or 3-angled or rarely 4-angled, usually enclosed in the persistent 
perianth. 
A. Lower leaves fan-shaped, 2-lobed, distinctly toothed, 4—-13 mm. long; all leaves 
opposite, scattered along the stem. PTEROSTEGIA (p. 131) 
AA. Leaves never fan-shaped, not lobed, rarely faintly serrulate, often more than 13 
mm. long, alternate or whorled in almost all species, often in basal tufts. 
B. Stipules none; flowers involucrate; juice nearly tasteless; styles 3; stamens 9. 
C. Involucre |-flowered, coriaceous; its teeth cuspidate, often hooked; annual. 
CHORIZANTHE (p. 131) 
CC. Involucre several-flowered, either herbaceous or without sharp point to its 
teeth. 
D. Akene lens-shaped; involucre 3—4-lobed, shortly awned; annual. 
OXxYTHECA (p. 131) 
DD. Akene 3-angled; involucre 4—8-lobed, pointless; annual or perennial. 
ERIOGONUM (p. 132) 
