Asarum canadense

Asarum canadense, commonly known as Canada wild ginger, Canadian snakeroot, and broad-leaved asarabacca, is a herbaceous, perennial plant which forms dense colonies in the understory of deciduous forests throughout its native range in eastern North America, from the Great Plains east to the Atlantic Coast, and from southeastern Canada south to around the Fall Line in the southeastern United States.

Asarum canadense

Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Magnoliids
Order: Piperales
Family: Aristolochiaceae
Genus: Asarum
Species:
A. canadense
Binomial name
Asarum canadense
Synonyms

A. acuminatum
A. canadense var. acuminatum
A. canadense var. ambiguum
A. canadense var. reflexum
A. reflexum
A. rubrocinctum

It is protected as a state threatened species in Maine.[2]

Description

Its leaves are velvety, kidney-shaped, and persistent, exhibiting a unique iridescence when in full sun. Underground shoots are shallow-growing, fleshy rhizomes that branch to form a clump. Flowers bloom from April through June.[3] Flowers are hairy and have three sepals. They are tan to purple in color on the outside and are lighter on the inside, with tapered tips and bases fused into a cup.

Pollinated flowers develop into a pod, which splits open when ripe to reveal seeds with elaiosomes, structures that are eaten by ants (myrmecochory).[4]

The diploid chromosome number is 26.[5]

Toxic substance

The plant contains aristolochic acid, a carcinogenic compound. The United States Food and Drug Administration warns that consumption of aristolochic acid-containing products is associated with "permanent kidney damage, sometimes resulting in kidney failure that has required kidney dialysis or kidney transplantation. In addition, some patients have developed certain types of cancers, most often occurring in the urinary tract."[6]

Uses

The long rhizomes of A. canadense were used by Native Americans as a seasoning.[5] It has similar aromatic properties to true ginger (Zingiber officinale), but should not be used as a substitute because it contains an unknown concentration of the carcinogen aristolochic acid and asarone.[7] The distillate from the ground root is known as Canadian snakeroot oil. The odor and flavor are spicy. It has been used in many flavor preparations.[8]

Native Americans used the plant as a medicinal herb to treat a number of ailments including dysentery, digestive problems, swollen breasts, coughs and colds, typhus, scarlet fever, nerves, sore throats, cramps, heaves, earaches, headaches, convulsions, asthma, tuberculosis, urinary disorders, and venereal disease. In addition, they also used it as a stimulant or appetite enhancer, and as a charm. It was also used as an admixture to strengthen other herbal preparations.[5]

A. canadense
A. canadense foliage

References
  1. "Asarum canadense". NatureServe Explorer. NatureServe. Archived from the original on April 15, 2013. Retrieved 2007-12-15.
  2. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Asarum canadense". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team.
  3. "Asarum canadense". Native Plant Database. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  4. Heather Holm (2015). "Wild Ginger Seed Dispersal". Restoring the Landscape with Native Plants.
  5. Whittemore, Alan T.; Mesler, Michael R.; Lu, Karen L. (1997). "Asarum canadense". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 3. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  6. April 11, 2001.
  7. Duke, Jim, "Asarum canadense", Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
  8. Michael G. Motto, Norman J. Secord (1985), "Composition of the essential oil from Asarum canadense", Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 31 (5): 789–791, doi:10.1021/jf00065a004.
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