51 
an m: aran M DED NINE SUED COMA ORAN, vestigiis caulium annotinis notata, subeylindrica, quandoque in tuber deorsòm intu- 
2 i —5, approximate, sep? deficiente radice connectente arcte fagciculata, digitum crassa, pollices 2—3 longa, glabra 
. 1 » 
transverse et parallel? levitér rugosula, in filum crassum, radiculosum attenuata, pallidè grisea, intòs luteola, succosa, odore nullo, fai 
(si quis) debilissimo, mucilaginoso, vix aromatico. Cavuis erectus, simplex, gracilis, e basi calamum scriptoriuin usque ad digitum 
ren damer] ae fr ot 
sulcati, 2—6-pollicares, pilis raris conspersi, basi dim dines et erdera M per sila oa si èt dakò am 
dig ki : à s ulati, ibique alternantes cum foliolis imperfectis (stipulis ?), 
raris, sedie sessilibus, gto oir py interdüm numero reductis, vel nullis. FoLtroLa quina, lanceolata, in acumen gracile, 
nunc longissimum attenuata, basi attenuato-acuta, marginibus totis profundè et acutè dupli i incisi i 
patulis, serraturis longiusculè cuspidatis ; peltatim patentia, curent saturatè ——— —M pati onse 
setis subulatis, erectis, cano-hyalinis; rugosula, subtùs costa nervisque obliquis, prominentibus, parüm sieut x ur nr ; mag- 
nitudine insequalia : intermedium 4—5-pollicare, lateralia sensim minora, extima dimidiam vel tertiam modb partem b ieri e wen 
Perou partiales vix unguiculares, teretes, pilosuli, sulcati, basi articulati. PepuncuLvs terminalis (caulis nempe apex IANUE. d 
vel versus basin trifidus, gracilis, teres, pilosulus, petiolis dimidio brevior, fructifer eos æquans, rarissime integer. UmBELLA terminalis 
globosa, flores continens 20—30, parvos, hermaphroditos. InvoLucruM constans setis aliquot vagis, viridibus, basibus TEN 
filiformium, semiuncialium interspersis. CaLyx adnatus, 5-dentatus ; dentes 5, parvuli, erecti, distantes, lanceolati, persistentes. Peraza 5, 
dentibus calycinis alternantia, patula, caduca, lanceolata, acuta, bilinearia, intús medid lineå longitudinali subcarinata. STAMINA 5, petalis 
alterna, iisdem paulló breviora, erectiuscula, citó decidua. Ovarrum turbinatum, laeve, obsoletè compressum vel triangulare, 2—3-loculare; 
ovula solitaria, pendula. Styrr 2—3, persistentes, subulati, paullo divergentes, intüs sulcati. SrramAra obtusa, scabrida. Bacca globosa 
obsoletè triloba, nunc subreniformi-biloba, diametro cerasi parvuli, laevis, stylis et calycis dentibus emarcidis coronata, nitida, resan 
2—3-locularis, carne molli, pallidå, albicante. SEMEN solitarium in singulo loculo, ovatum, compressum, dorso gibbosum, margine 
interiore subrecto ad angulum superiorem, i. e. apicem seminis, pro ingressu funiculi umbilicalis perforato. ‘Testa crustacea et fragilis, 
pallide grisea, scabriuscula. MEMBRANA propria tenuissima. PERISPERMUM carnosum, semen figura exact? referens. EmBRryo minutis- 
simus, in summa parte perispermi haerens, inversus. RADICULA supera. 
While I was in Nipal in 1820 and 1821, I found on the top of Sheopore, one of the highest mountains which sur- 
round the great valley, near the remains of an old fortification, at an elevation of between 9,000 and 10,000 feet above 
the plains of Bengal, a plant which I had no difficulty in recognizing as a species of Panaw nearly allied to the 
Ginseng, if not identical with it. There was a good number of individuals growing under the thick shade of Oaks and 
Rhododendrums, within an area of forty or fifty feet square ; but the most diligent and frequently repeated search 
by myself and my assistants convinced me that the plant was fixed, as it were, to one circumscribed spot; nor were 
our subsequent endeavours to find it anywhere else in Nipal attended with success. “The natives of the country to 
whom I showed it were totally unacquainted with it, and ignorant of its virtues, real or imaginary; they had not 
even a name for it to give me, although in ordinary cases they are so fertile and inventive, and so utterly to be mis- 
trusted in matters connected with the nomenclature of the productions of their country. The Resident at the Court 
of Katmandoo, my worthy friend the Honourable E. Gardner, at my suggestion intimated to that Durbar, or Govern- 
ment, that the country possessed a plant which was held in the highest estimation among their Chinese neighbours, 
and which might perhaps prove the most acceptable gift that could be sent to the Emperor with the triennial embassy 
from the Rajah of Nipal. But the matter was not considered in the light of one deserving of any further inquiry ; the 
Government being either unwilling to contribute so grand a panacea to a Court which they look upon with feelings 
both of awe and envy ; or disinclined to ascribe to that Court so great a degree of folly as to pay the weight in gold 
for an insignificant root, possessing no earthly sensible qualities, and of which not even the name is known in its native 
country. Å very advantageous consequence has resulted from this proud feeling ; it is this,—that our little innocent 
plant continues up to this day in the undisputed and undisturbed possession of its secluded and small territory, on the 
top of the above-mentioned mountain. | i 
It belongs to the class of plants called rhizocarpic. The root is lasting, shooting forth annually, at the commence- 
ment of the rainy season, one or two stems, which produce blossoms in June, and ripe berries in August, after which 
they die down to the ground. It is exceedingly like Panaw quinquefolius of Linneus, and may perhaps ultimately be 
received as a variety only of that famous plant ; I have however thought it best to consider it as a distinct species, of 
which I have given above the character and description. It seems to differ from the genuine Ginseng of Chinese 
Tartary and North America in the following respects: its tubers are more numerous and fascicled ; the plant is much 
taller; its upper parts, chiefly the leaves, are somewhat rough with copious, gray, subulate, bristly hairs; while the 
other is perfectly smooth, except the leaves, which are sometimes very sparingly hairy. The leaflets are not ovate or 
obovate, as in that species, but lanceolate, ending in a very long acumen, their base acute, not rounded, and the 
margins are deeply indented with sharp and cuspidate double serratures. “The inflorescence, too, differs ; in our plant 
it consists most frequently of three long-peduncled umbels, the peduncles of which are either distinct or united below 
into one, with the flowers mostly all hermaphrodite ; in the Linnean species the umbel is single, E the flowers 
polygamous : the berries in our species are mostly three-seeded, in the other gut are _ PERSO - d 
It is highly probable that the root possesses as little claim to a place in our Materia Medica as the r p. 
