Syn.: Asarum lucidum Salisb., nom. inval., Asarum officinale Moench, Asarum renifolium Stokes, Asarum reniforme Gilib., Asarum rotundifolium St.-Lag.
Family: Aristolochiaceae Juss.
Distribution: European species – almost all of Europe, Northern Turkey and Western Siberia.
Ecology: It grows in humid groves and among bushes, in open woodland and waterside thickets, from lowland to mountains. Flowers from March to May.
Description: A perennial evergreen herb with branched, scaly rhizome, 5–10 cm high. The stem is prostrate, the leaves are long-petiolate, reniform, entire. The flowers are bell-shaped with 3 lobes brownish outside, dark violet within and hidden by leaves.
Note: The Asarabacca is poisonous herb, the plant has a strong peppery taste and smell. In the literature is given as part of a snuff powders.
These images were taken in Czechia, Hranická propast and Prague (April 28, 2003 and March 1, 2008).
