GINSENG FAMILY 



In early spring the plant arises as a very short, 

 smooth stem, which bears a tall leaf-stalk and a shorter, 

 naked flower-stalk. 



The single large leaf, of exquisite bronze tints when 

 first it appears, is compounded of three to five ovate- 

 toothed leaflets on each of its three divisions; later it 

 fades to green. 



The flower-stalk usually bears at its summit three 

 crowded umbels of small greenish white flowers. The 

 tiny five-parted flowers have their petals curved back- 

 ward over the calyx, throwing the stamens into relief. 

 The flowers are succeeded by clusters of dark-purple 

 berries greatly loved by birds. 



This is not the true Sarsaparilla of medicine, though 

 often used as a substitute for it; that comes from a 

 different herb, Smllax officinalis^ a native of Mexico 

 and South America. 



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