Category Archives: Aristolochiaceae

Aristolochia macrophylla  (A. durior) Dutchman’s pipe Aristolochiaceae ARDU(*) Bx, rd;

Aristolochia macrophylla.USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions

Aristolochia macrophylla. USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 vols. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. (Accessed 4/2014).

Aristolochia macrophylla is a high-climbing, twining vine; bark with distinctive aromatic odor (scratch & sniff); new growth green in winter, older bark gray, striated with numerous elongate lenticels that merge into lines.

Leaves large, heart-shaped, to 40 cm long and wide.

Flowers dark purplish, irregularly tubular, bent at a sharp angle like an old-fashioned smoking-pipe, to 4 cm long, 2.5 cm wide, very broadly 3-lobed at top, lobe tips pointed.

Fruit dry, cylindrical, to 8 cm long, splitting open to release numerous small seeds.

Wetland status: NL.

Frequency in NYC: Very infrequent.

Origin: Native to Appalachian mountains, from southern PA to GA. also horticultural.

Habitat: Rarely escaping into disturbed woodland.

Geranium molle dove-foot crane’s-bill Geraniaceae GEMO*; R (DeCandido 2001); 

   

Geranium molle.commons.wikipedia.org

Geranium molle.commons.wikipedia.org. (Accessed 4/2014).

Geranium molle is an annual herb to 50 cm tall from a taproot, stems branched from base, spreading, softly hairy. 

Leaves alternate, mostly basal, kidney-shaped, to 5 cm wide, divided to middle of blade into 5-9, 3-lobed segments, lobes shallow, upper leaves progressively reduced upwards. 

Flowers pale purple, numerous, petals to 0.7 cm long, deeply notched at tip, sepals hairy, tipped by a brownish gland; calyx and flower stalks densely glandular-hairy, stamens 10, anthers purple (Yatskievych 2006), ovary superior; blooms and fruits June-Sept. 

Fruit dry, linear, to 1.3 cm long above, 1-seeded carpels cupped in persistent calyx. 

Wetland status: UPL. 

Frequency in NYC: Very infrequent. 

Origin: Europe, W. Asia. 

Habitat: A weed of lawns and gardens.  

Asarum canadense wild ginger Aristolochiaceae ASCA; Bx, br, pb, wv (Yost et al. 1991); Q: f (M. Feder); R, cb, cr (U. Lorimer 2017), lt, w; 

   

Asarum canadense

Asarum canadense.MBGargiullo ca 2007

Asarum canadense is a perennial, herbaceous ground cover, about 10 cm tall, slowly clonal from short, extensive system of rhizomes, roots associated with VA mycorrhizas (Brundrett and Kendrick 1988); hairy. 

Leaves opposite, in pairs at ends of rhizome branches, heart- to kidney-shaped, dark, matte green, 8-12 cm wide. 

Asarum_canadense flower. MBGargiullo. ca 2007*

Asarum canadense flower. MBGargiullo. ca 2007

Flowers reddish-brown, petals none, calyx broadly cup-shaped, 3 lobed, ca 3 cm wide, stamens 12, fused to styles, ovary inferior; solitary arising between leaf pairs; April-May. 

Asarum canadense fruit, seeds. By Bruce Patterson. Copyright © 2017 Bruce Patterson. New England Wild Flower Society. gobotany.newenglandwild.org

Asarum canadense fruit, seeds with arils. By Bruce Patterson. Copyright © 2017 Bruce Patterson. New England Wild Flower Society. gobotany.newenglandwild.org (Accessed 10/2017).

Fruit dry, hollow capsule, splitting opening to release numerous large, seeds with fatty arils (elaiosome), dispersed by ants, probably including genera: Aphaenogaster (A. rudis), Myrmica, Formica and Lasius (Thompson 1980; Beattie and Culver 1981; Handel et al. 1981; Cain et al. 1998). Dispersal to and establishment in new sites in successional forest, contiguous to old regrowth stands has been estimated at a rate of 0.59 m/yr (Matlack 1994). 

Wetland status: UPL. 

Frequency in NYC: Infrequent. 

Origin: Native 

Habitat: A forest interior herb, undisturbed woods, in rich, moist soil (Matlack 1994). Very shade tolerant. Sometimes as a remnant in disturbed woods. 

Aristolochia clematis birthwort Aristolochiaceae ARCL*; Bx, pb (DeCandido 2001);

Aristolochia clematitis.commons.wikimedia.org.JPG

Aristolochia clematitis.commons.wikimedia.org.JPGAccessed 12/2014).

Aristolochia clematis is a poisonous (Kingsbury 1964) perennial herb, to 1 m tall, stems ascending or reclining. 

Leaves alternate, broadly heart-shaped to 10 cm long and wide, tip blunt, base with wide , well separated, rounded lobes, pale below. 

Flowers yellow, no petals, bilaterally symmetrical, calyx tubular, to 3 cm long, base enlarged, top with one lobe. 

Fruit dry, hollow, a capsule with numerous seeds. 

Wetland status: NL. 

Origin: Europe. 

Habitat: Very infrequently escaped from cultivation; mistakenly used as a medicinal since Roman times (The Poison Garden website. © John Robertson 2016. thepoisongarden.co.uk) (accessed 10/2016).