Heterotropa
(from heteros, various, and trope, a change; in allusion to the variable nature of the plants). ORD. Aristolochiaceae. A small genus of greenhouse or half-hardy perennial herbs, with creeping roots, natives of Japan; now included, by Bentham and Hooker, under Asarum. Flowers terminal, solitary, shortly pedunculate; perianth dusky-purple or lurid; lobes acute or caudate-acuminate. Leaves long, petiolate, cordate-reniform or almost hastate. For culture, &c., see Asarum.
H. asaroides (Asarum-like). fl. inclined or drooping, on very short peduncles; perianth dull purplish-green, depresso-globose, contracted at base and mouth; limb of three triangular blunt segments, spreading horizontally; internal surface deeply cellular. April and May. l. petiolate, deeply cordate, nearly ovate, entire, spotted; petioles erect, as long as the leaves. Rhizome branched and nodose. h. 6in. 1836. Plant glabrous. Greenhouse. SYN. Asarum japonicum. (B. M. 4933.) H. parviflora (small-flowered). fl. purple and green, solitary, bracteated, about half the size of those of H. asaroides; perianth urceolate; tube constricted above the middle, oval-ventricose below; segments of limb broadly ovate; bracts longer than the flowers. April. l. solitary, cordate, white-spotted, with a deep, narrow sinus. h. 3in. 1862. Greenhouse. (B. M. 5380.)