But usually several old corms - not always two, by any means -
remain attached to the nearest one, a bulb being produced each
year until Cain and Abel often join Adam and Eve to make up quite
a family group. A strong, glutinous matter within the corms has
been used as a cement, hence the plant's other popular name. From
the newest bulb added, a solitary large leaf arises in late
summer or autumn, to remain all winter. The flower stalk comes up
at one side of it the following spring. Meantime the old corms
retain their life, apparently to help nourish the young one still
joined to them, while its system is taxed with flowering.
WILD GINGER; CANADA SNAKEROOT; ASARABACCA
(Asarum Canadense) Birthwort family
Flower - Solitary, dull purplish brown, creamy white within,
about 1 in. broad when expanded, borne on a short peduncle close
to or upon the ground. Calyx cup-shaped, deeply cleft, its 3
acutely pointed lobes spreading, curved; corolla wanting; 12
short, stout stamens inserted on ovary; the thick style 6-lobed,
its stigmas radiating on the lobes.
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