Marbled Wildginger

Asarum marmoratum is found only in the Cascades and the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon and extreme northwestern California (M. R. Mesler and K. L. Lu 1990).

Rhizomes erect or ascending, deeply buried, internodes 0.2-1.5 cm. Leaves: petiole 5-20 cm, sparsely crisped-hirsute. Leaf blade almost always variegate with white or silver along veins, cordate to cordate-reniform, 4-14 × 3-12 cm, apex acute to broadly acuminate, rarely obtuse; surfaces abaxially sparsely hirsute, adaxially glabrous or sparsely hirsute along veins, marginal hairs ± perpendicular to margin. Flowers erect or nearly so; peduncle 1.2-1.9 cm; false calyx tube subglobose, externally mottled red, sparsely to moderately hirsute, internally dark red, with purple hairs; distal portion of sepal erect or spreading at anthesis, 17-52 mm, apex filiform-attenuate, abaxially pale green, hirsute, adaxially tan or brownish green, rarely red proximally, puberulent with crisped purple hairs; pollen sacs 0.8-2.4 mm, sterile tip of connective on inner stamens dark red-brown, 1.2-3.8 mm, longer than pollen sacs.

Calif., Oreg.

Flowering late winter-spring (Mar-Jun).

Understory of dry or mesic forests, or exposed rocky slopes or roadcuts; 200-1800m.

Asarum marmoratum is a species of wild ginger known by the common name marbled wild ginger.

It is native to the Klamath Mountains of northern California and southern Oregon, as well as adjacent slopes of the Cascade Range. It is a plant of moist high-elevation forests and rocky mountainsides. This is a rhizomatous perennial herb with hairy green leaves with bright cream-white colored marbling. The leaves are heart-shaped to kidney-shaped to nearly round. Flowers appear at ground-level. They consist of three coarsely hairy sepals which are dark greenish brown outside and dark reddish inside. The fruit is a fleshy capsule containing many seeds.

Asarum marmoratum is a state-listed endangered species in Oregon.