88 PANAX QUINQUEF OLIUM. 
are sometimes found single,) each of them had 
two rough stones, separated from each other, of 
nearly the size and figure of common lentils. 
The berries were supported on small. sprigs, 
which rose from a common centre like the rays of 
asphere. The fruit is not good to eat.. ‘The ber- 
ries are not round but a little flat on each side. 
When they are double there isa depression or 
hollow place in the middle where the two parts 
unite. Each berry has a small beard at top dia- 
metrically opposite to the sprig on which it hangs. 
When the berry is dry there remains only a shrivel- 
led skin, adhering close to the stones, of a dark 
red, or black colour. | 
The plant dies away anda springs up again 
every year. The number of years may be known 
by the number of stalks it has shot forth, of which 
there always remains a mark or scar on, the up- 
per part of the root. . 
«As to the flower,’ says esd “ not posiap seen 
it, I can give no deseription of it. Some say itis 
white and very small; others have assured me 
that the plant has none, and that nobody ever saw 
it. rather believe that it is so small and so little 
remarkable, that none of them ever took notice 
of it. 
