Plant Study
Wild Ginger 
English Family Name: Birthwort
Latin Family Name: Aristolochiaceae
Order: Aristolochiales
Class: Dicotyledoneae
Phylum: Anthophyta
Kingdom: Plantae
Latin Name: Asarum caudatum Lindl.(Drawings: 1)
Common Names: Asarabacca, Black Snakeweed, Canada Snakeroot, False Coltsfoot, Heart Snakeroot, Indian Ginger( ). British Columbia wildginger
longtail wildginger ( Online: 3).
Native American Names:
Green River : xwaltcl (Gunther: 28).
Skagit : tuxop’bida΄libut; tuxop’, “pheasant΄,” (because pheasants eat it) (Mrs. Moses) qwolqwalted (Mr. Moses) (Gunther: 28).
Upper Skagit : tcelceltcalaqwe΄tc (Gunther: 28).
Related Species:
Asarum canadense deciduous from eastern Canada (Online: 1) .
Asarum europaeum native to Europe (Online: 1).
Asarum shuttleworthii native to the Appalachians and is variegated with silver (Online: 1) .
Accepted Varieties:
Asarum caudatum var. caudatum, wild ginger or British Columbia wildginger (Online: 3).
Asarum caudatum Lindl. var. viridiflorum M.E. Peck [30], longtail wildginger (Online: 3).
Body System Affiliations:
Respiratory System
Gastrointestinal System
Botanical Description:
Habit: Spreading herb.
Life Form: Forb (Online: 3)
Leaves: Heart- to kidney-shaped, shiny, long stalked, 2 at each node, 1.5 to 4 inches ( 4-10 cm) long to 6 inches (15 cm) wide; leaf stalks and veins finely hairy (Pojar and Mackinnon: 317).
Flowers: Purplish-brown to greenish yellow, solitary, bell-shaped flowers with 3 flaring lobes that taper to long points; often concealed by leaves. (Pojar and Mackinnon: 317).
Fruit: Fleshy capsules: seeds several, egg-shaped, with prominent fleshy appendage (Pojar and Mackinnon: 317).
Underground Parts: Wild ginger produces slender, elongate, shallow rhizomes that allow for a spreading to highly-matted growth form that grow to just 0.7 inches (18 mm) long (Online: 3)
Ecology:
Habitat: Most faithful in moist shaded woods. (Kruckeberg: 183). Can also be found in w oodland gardens, dappled shade, deep shade, shady edge, and ground cover (Online: 2).
Range: Cascades to coast from British Columbia to California and less frequently east of the Cascades in northern Idaho and western Montana
Native Where: Asarum caudatum, f. chloroleucum R. Palmer. Proc.Biol.Soc.Wash. 41:193. 1928. - Wash. (Harvard: 626). Asarum caudatum, var. viridiflorum M. E. Peck. Proc.Biol.Soc.Wash. 47:185. 1934. – Oregon. (Harvard: 627).
Ecological Relationships:
Places/Dates Observered/Description
Wild ginger, also known by its botanical or Latin name, Asarum caudatum, actually strays from its family a bit when it comes to its temporate zone. Its family, Aristolochiaceae, or Birthwort in English, is primarily a tropical/warm temporate zone of vines. In western Washington, however, we are lucky enough to find this soft lemony-ginger scented herb. This sprawling forb has heart-shaped () evergreen leaves that grow to be 2” – 7” wide. Hiding beneath these shiny, dark green leaves with widely spaced white hairs we find lazy greenish stems and oddly shaped flowers bearing 3 petal-like stepals of maroon or brownish-purple. Beneath these bell-shaped flowers with long, tail-like appendages, and just barely penetrating the surface of the forest floor it likes to creep along, are the rhizome (stem-root structure) and true roots from its lower surface. This evergreen perrenial can grow 7” tall and spread 2’ wide. Some common names for wild ginger are British Columbia wildginger, Canada snakeroot and longtail wildginger.
Wild ginger’s natural range is found on the west coast of North America from British Columbia down to California. It can also be found eastward in Idaho and Montana. In Oregon and Washington, it is common within the Douglas-fir-western white pine communities of the Blue Mountains. This herb flourishes in rich, moist soil in shaded forests at low to middle elevations.
Contraindications:
"If you use too much wild ginger with gastric irritation, a red-tipped tongue and
moist mouth, you may get nauseous,. It`s stimulation of the uterine muscosa
makes it not advisable to use during pregnancy." Ref. B p.271, D p.160.
References Cited:
Books:
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Gunther, Erna. Ethnobotany of Western Washington: The Knowledge and Use of Indigenous Plants by Native Americans. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1973.
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Pojar, Jim and MacKinnon, Andrew. Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia & Alaska. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: Lone Pine Publishing,1994.
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Kruckeberg, Arthur R. Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1982.
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Harvard University . Gray Herbarium Index: Volume 1 A-Atrn. Boston, Massachusettes: G. K. Hall & Co.,1968.
Online:
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Author Unknown. Bellevue Botanical Garden Society Website. Online at http://www.bellevuebotanical.org . Plant of the Month, June 2003. Visited 11-2-2005.
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Author Unknown. Plants For A Future,1996-2003. Online at http://www.pfaf.org/index.html . Last modified: June 2004 (may well have been modified since!). Visited 11/27/2005.
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Gucker, Corey L. 2004. Asarum caudatum. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: www.fs.fed.us/database/feis [ var months = new Array(12); months[0] = "January"; months[1] = "February"; months[2] = "March"; months[3] = "April"; months[4] = "May"; months[5] = "June"; months[6] = "July"; months[7] = "August"; months[8] = "September"; months[9] = "October"; months[10] = "November"; months[11] = "December"; var date = new Date(); var year = date.getFullYear(); var month = date.getMonth(); var day = date.getDate(); document.write(year+", "+months[month]+" "+day); 2005, November 27].
Drawings, Photographs and Pressings:
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Melanie Brenner, 9 x 12 acrylic.
