HEDERACEAE 855 
or a drupe. Seed solitary, with a crustaceous testa. Endosperm copious, fleshy. 
Embryo straight. [Araliaceae Vent. ] 
Vines: leaf-blades simple. 1, HEDERA. 
Herbs, shrubs or trees: leaf-blades compound. 
Seapose: bracts whorled ; blades digitately compound. 2. PANAX. 
Caulescent : leaves alternate ; blades pinnately decompound. 3. ARALIA. 
1. HEDERA L. 
High-climbing vines, with rope-like stems. Leaves without stipules: blades simple, 
entire or lobed, leathery, often lustrous. Flowers polygamous, in panicled umbels, jointed 
to the pedicels. Calyx truncate or of 5 sepals. Petals5, valvate, inconspicuous. Stamens 
5: filaments short. Ovary 5-celled. Styles united into a conic or cylindric column. 
Berry-like fruit angled, somewhat pulpy: nutlets papery or membranous. Seeds solitary. 
Endosperm ruminated. 
1. Hedera Hélix L. An evergreen high-climbing vine. Stems rope-like, clinging 
by rootlets: leaves alternate; blades leathery, dark green and lustrous above, dull be- 
neath, ovate, angular or 3-5-lobed or 3-5-cleft, 2-10 cm. long: flowering branches stiff : 
umbels solitary or a few in terminal racemes or panicles: hypanthium pubescent, tur- 
binate : sepals obsolete: corolla yellowish green: petals ovate or oblong-ovate, 2-3 mm. 
long, obtuse: stamens 5, ascending : fruit subglobose, about 1 cm. in diameter, 2—5-seeded. 
A bout houses and cemeteries, sparingly naturalized from Europe. Ivy. 
2. PANAX L. 
Perennial scapose herbs, with globose or elongated tuberous rootstocks. Scapes simple, 
topped by a whorl of digitately compound petioled bracts. Peduncle erect, naked. Um- 
bel simple, terminal, solitary. Flowers polygamous, inconspicuous. Sepals minute or 
nearly obsolete. Petals 5, valvate, spreading, white or greenish. Stamens 5: filaments 
short. Ovary 2-3-celled, or rarely 5-celled. Styles 2-3, distinct. Stigmas obliquely 
facing inward. Berries drupe-like, pulpy without, 2-3-celled within, red or yellowish. 
Seeds more or less flattened. 
Rootstock globular : leaflets sessile, obtuse: berries yellow. 1. P. trifolium. — 
Rootstock fusiform: leaflets stalked, acuminate: berries bright crimson. 2. P. quinquefolium 
l. Panax trifdlium L. Rootstock subglobose: scape erect, 1-2 dm. tall, topped by 
a whorl of 3 bracts, simple: bracts with petioles; blades digitately 3-foliolate ; leaflets 
oblong or elliptic, often varying to lanceolate or oblanceolate, 1-8 cm. long, obtuse, more 
or less distinctly doubly serrate, acute or abruptly contracted at the base, sessile : 
peduncles 1-8 cm. long: umbel solitary, the pedicels 2-5 mm. long: hypanthium turbi- 
nate in flower: petals ovate to oblong, 0.5-1 mm. long, obtuse: berry 3-angled or didy- 
mous, 4—5 mm. broad, yellow. 
In open woods, Nova Scotia to Minnesota, south to Georgia and Illinois. Spring and early summer. 
GROUND-NUT. DWARF GINSENG. 
2. Panax quinquefólium L. Rootstock fusiform, simple or forking: scape 2-4 dm. 
tall, topped by a whorl of 3 or 4 bracts, simple: bracts with long petioles ; blades digi- 
tately 5-foliolate or rarely 6—7-foliolate ; leaflets obovate or the lower ones oval or suborbic- 
ular, 2-15 em. long, acuminate at the apex, doubly serrate, acute to subcordate at the 
base: peduncles 2-10 cm. long, topped by a solitary umbel : hypanthium campanulate : 
sepals triangular : petals ovate, 1-1.5 mm. long, yellowish green : berries flattened, rather 
didymous, 8-10 mm. broad, bright crimson. 
In rich soil in woods, Quebec to Minnesota and Nebraska, south to Florida and Alabama. Sum- 
mer. GINSENG. SANG. 
3. ARALIA L. 
Perennial caulescent herbs, shrubs or trees, with glabrous pubescent or prickle-armed 
foliage. Stems erect, horizontal or creeping. Leaves alternate: blades petioled, pin- 
nately or ternately decompound : leaflets usually toothed. Flowers perfect or polygamo- 
monoecious, white or whitish, in racemose or paniculate umbels, or in compound umbels. 
Sepals 5 or obsolete. Petals 5, more or less imbricated, obtuse or with inflexed tips. 
Stamens 5: filaments curved. Ovary 5-celled. Styles 5, spreading. Ovules solitary in 
each cavity. Berry 5-lobed, black, fleshy : nutlets crustaceous. Seeds flattened. SPIKE- 
NARD. SARSAPARILLA. 
