WILD GINGER.
Asarum caudatum, Lindl. Birthwort Family.
Rootstocks.—Creeping; aboveground. Leaves.—Alternate; two to four inches long; heart-shaped; not mottled; shining green. Flowers.—Raisin-colored. Perianth.—With spherical tube and three long-pointed lobes, thirty lines long. Stamens.—Twelve. Filaments more or less coherent in groups, adherent to the styles, and produced beaklike beyond the anthers. Ovary.—Six-celled. Styles united; equaling the stamens. Hab.—The Coast Ranges from Santa Cruz to British Columbia.
The beautiful long-stemmed leaves of the wild ginger stand upon the borders of many a shaded cañon stream, seeming to enjoy the gossiping of the brook as it gurgles by. The leaves and roots of these plants are aromatic, and the former when crushed emit a pleasant fragrance, similar to that of the camphor-laurel. The branching rootstocks, creeping along the surface of the ground, grow from their tips; which are swathed in the undeveloped silky leaves.
In the spring a warm hue comes among these closely-folded leaves, and presently a curious dull-colored bud begins to protrude its long tip from their midst. This bud looks as though some worm had eaten off its end; but we soon see that its blunt appearance is due to the fact that the long prongs of the sepals are neatly folded in upon themselves, like the jointed leg of an insect. It must require considerable force in the flower to unfurl them. When at length expanded, these blossoms have the look of some rapacious, hobgoblin spider, lurking for its prey.
Another species—A. Hartwegi, Wats.—the "Sierra wild ginger," is easily distinguished from the above by its white-mottled leaves, which grow in clusters, and by its smaller flowers. It blooms later than the other, its flowers lasting into July. These plants are closely related to the "Dutchman's pipe."
![[WILD GINGER—Asarum caudatum.]](#3624944100741987669_f119.png.id-8918362719639895822.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}