646 ARALIACE^. Aralia. 



Order LXIX. ARALIACEiE. Jtiss. 



Calyx adherent to the ovary ; the limb usually very small, entire 

 or toothed. Petals 5-10, valvate in aestivation, very rarely none. 

 Stamens as many as the petals and alternate with them : filaments 

 short (2-parted in Adoxa) : anthers introrse. Ovary crowned with 

 an epigynous disk, 2-15-celled, with a solitary suspended ovule in 

 each cell : styles erect and connivent, or spreading : stigmas simple. 

 Fruit drupaceous, or baccate, sometimes nearly dry, but the carpels 

 not separating : endocarp chartaceous or membranaceous. Seed 

 solitary in each cell, anatropous. Embryo short, at the base of the 

 copious fleshy albumen. — Shrubs, trees, or perennial herbs, with com- 

 pound or simple exstipulate leaves ; the petioles thickened and 

 dilated at the base. Flowers mostly umbellate ; the umbels often 

 paniculate or racemed. 



1. ARALIA. Limi. ; Don, prodr.fl. Nep. ; DC. prodr. 4. p. 257. 



Flowers mostly perfect. Limb of the calyx short, 5-toothed or entire. 

 Petals 5, spreading. Stamens 5, alternate with the petals : filaments short. 

 Styles 5, at length divaricate. Drupe baccate, 5-lobed, 5-celled ; the endo- 

 carp chartaceous. — Shrubs, trees, or perennial herbs, with mostly compound 

 leaves. Petioles sheathing at the base. Umbels often panicled. 



* Unarmed, mostly herbaceous. 



'■■ 1. ^. racemosa (Linn.) : stem herbaceous, divaricately branched; leaves 

 ternately and quinately decompound ; leaflets cordate-ovate, acuminate, 

 doubly serrate, slightly pubescent ; umbels (small) numerous, disposed in 

 large doubly compound racemose panicles; involucre minute or almost none. 

 —Linn. ! spec. I. p. 273 ; Michx. ! fi. l.p.lSb; Sclik. handb. t. 86 ; Bigel. 

 fl. Bost. ed. -2. p. 122; DC! prodr. 4. p. 257; Hook. ! fi. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 

 174; Darlimrt. fl. Cest. p. 209. 



Rich woodlands, Canada ! from the Saskatcbawan to the mountains of 

 Georgia, and west to the base of the Rocky Mountains, Dr. James! July. — 

 Root large and thick, strongly aromatic, as well as the wliole plant. Stem 

 3-5 feet high, widely spreading. Leaves and panicles very large. Flowers 

 small, greenish-white. Styles united below. Fruit small, dark-purple. 

 — Spikenard. 



2. A, nudicaulis (Linn.) : stem very short or none ; leaf mostly solitary, 

 radical ; the petiole elongated, 3-cleft, each division pinnately 5-foliolate ; 

 leaflets oblong-ovate or oval, acuminate, serrate ; scape shorter than the leaf; 

 umbels 3, not involucrate. — Linn. ! spec. 1. ^j. 274 ; Michx. ! fl. 1. p. 185; 

 Torr. ! fl.l. p. 327 ; Raf. med. hot. 1, <. 8 ; Bigel. ! fl. Bost. ed. 2. p. 122 ; 

 DC! prodr. 4:. p. 257 ; 'Hook. ! fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 274 ; Darlingt. l. c. 



Rich rocky woodlands, Canada ! from lat. 64°, and the Rocky Mountains, 

 and Labrador ! to the mountainous portions of the Soudiern States ! May. — 

 Root very long, prostrate, aromatic. Scape sheathed at the base by scarious 



