PRICKLY ASH. ~ 464 
It produces a powerful effect when applied to 
secreting surfaces and to ulcerated parts. In the 
West Indies much use has been made of the 
bark of another species, the Xanthoxylum Clava 
Herculis, in malignant ulcers, both internally 
administered and externally applied. Commu- 
nications relating to its efficacy may be found in 
the eighth volume of the Medical and Physical 
Journal, and the fifth volume of the Transactions 
of the Medical Society of London. 
By an ambiguity which frequently grows out 
of the use of common or English names of plants, 
the Aralia spinosa, a very different shrub, has 
been coufounded with the Xanthoxylum. The 
Aralia, called mgelica tree, and sometimes 
Prickly ash, is exclusively a native of the warmer 
' parts of the United States, being not found, to my 
knowledge, in the Atlantic: states north of Vir- 
ginia. Its flavour and pungency, as well as its 
general appearance, are different from those of 
the true Prickly ash. It is nevertheless a valu- 
able stimulant and diaphoretic, and in Mr, Elli- 
ott’s Southern Botany, we are told that it is an 
efficacious emetic. For the latter purpose. it is 
given in large doses, in infusion. = 
The name Xanthoxylum, signifying yellow 
wood, was originally given by Mr. . Colden. - The 
