N. ORD.-~RUTACEA:. 33 
GENUS.—XANTHOXYLUM,* COLDEN. 
SEX. SYST.—DIOECIA PENTANDRIA. 
XANTHOXYLUM. 
PRICKLY ASH. 
SYN.—XANTHOXYLUM AMERICANUM, MILL.; X. CLAVA- HERCULIS, 
LAM. (Not LINN.); X. FRAXINEUM, AND MITE, WILLD.; X. FRAX- 
INIFOLIUM, MARSH. (Not WALT.); X. RAMIFLORUM, MICHX. ; x. 
TRICARPUM, HOOK. (Not MICHX.); THYLAX FRAXINEUM, RAF. 
COM. NAMES.—NORTHERN PRICKLY ASH,+ TOOTHACHE TREE, PELLI- 
TORY,{ YELLOW WOOD,? SUTERBERRY, ANGELICA TREE;|| (FR.) 
FRENE EPINEAUX; (GER.) ZAHNWEHOLZ. 
A TINCTURE OF THE FRESH BARK OF XANTHOXYLUM AMERICANUM, MILL. 
Description.—This well-known shrub grows to a height of from 3 to 8 feet, 
with a like spread of banches. ark grayish, smooth, white maculate, and slightly 
warty; dranches alternate, beset with short, triangular, sharp prickles, similar to 
those of the rose bush, and generally arranged in pairs beneath the axils of the 
younger branches ; /eaves alternate, pinnately compound ; /eaffets 4 to 5 pairs and 
an odd one, ovate-oblong, acute, entire or glandularly serrate, nearly sessile, the 
under surface downy when young; efrole often prickly on the upper side. /nxflor- 
escence sessile umbellate clusters axillary to the yet undeveloped branchlets; 
flowers yellowish-green, polygamo-dioecious, appearing before the leaves ; perfect 
flowers with 3 pistils, sterzle flowers with rudimentary, abortive, gland-like ova- 
ries, fertile flowers with 5 fruiting pistils, Calyx none. Feéals 5, oblong, blunt, with 
a glandularly fibrillate border and somewhat inflated base. Stamens 5, exserted, 
alternate with the petals and inserted upon the torus; az¢hers innate, sagittate, 4- 
celled. Pisti/s 3 or 5; styles exserted, slender, somewhat intertwined, connivant, 
or sometimes united at the apex; s#&gmas capitate or obtuse. Ovaries distinct 1- 
celled. Fyruzt reddish-green, short-stalked, fleshy, pitted, 2-valved pods; seeds oval, 
blackish, one to each pod, suspended. 
Rutaceze.—A large family of herbs, shrubs and trees inhabiting chiefly the 
Southern hemisphere. eaves simple or compund, pellucid-dotted and rich ina 
pungent or bitter and aromatic oil; s&pzdes none. lowers by abortion dicecious 
* Zav06;, xanthos, yellow; f6dov, xylon, wood. 
+ The Southern Prickly Ash is X Carolinianum, Lam. 
t The true Pellitories are the African Anacyclus pyrethrum, D. C. (Composite), and various European and the 
American species of the genus Parietaria (Urticacee). 
% The true yellow-wood with us is Cladrastris tinctoria, Raf. (Leguminosz). 
|| The true Angelica tree, so often confounded with the prickly ash from its slightly similar effects, is Aradia spi- 
nosa, Linn. (Araliacez). 
