N. ORD.—RUTACEA. 34 
GENUS—PTELEA,* LINN. 
SEX. SYST.—TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA, 
PoPe tt BA: 
WAFER ASH. 
SYN.—PTELEA TRIFOLIATA, LINN.; P. VITICIFOLIA, SALISB.; AMYRIS 
ELEMIFOLIA, LINN. 
COM. NAMES._WAFER ASH, SHRUBBY TREFOIL, TREE TREFOIL, HOP 
TREE, STINKING ASH, WINGSEED, SWAMP DOGWOOD, PICKAWAY. 
(FR.) ORME DE SAMAIRE A TROIS FEUILLES; (GER.) DRIBLATTRIGE 
LEDERBAUM. 
A TINCTURE OF THE BARK OF PTELEA TRIFOLIATA, LINN. 
Description.—This peculiar shrub attains a growth of from 6 to 8 feet. Leaves 
trifoliate, long petioled; /eaflets sessile or very slightly petiolulate, ovate, pointed, dark 
shining green above, pale and somewhat downy beneath, the terminal more or less 
wedge-shaped and contracted at the base, all more or less crenulate. /xflorescence 
in compound lateral and terminal cymes; lowers numerous, greenish-white, polyga- 
mous, their odor disagreeable. Sepals 3 to 5, usually 4, somewhat deltoid, much 
shorter than the petals. /e/a/s 3 to 5, usually 4, spreading, imbricated in the bud. 
Stamens as many as the petals and alternate with them; //aments in the sterile 
flowers long, dilated, and hairy at the base; shorter than the ovary in the fertile ; 
anthers larger, present in both kinds of flowers, but sterile in the female. Ovary 
2-celled; style short or wanting; stigma capitate, 2-lobed. /vuzt a large, dense, 
globular cluster of nearly orbicular, 2-seeded, membranaceous, reticulate-veined 
samaras; seed somewhat triangularly compressed. 
History and Habitat—The Wafer Ash is indigenous to North America, rang- 
ing from Pennsylvania westward to Wisconsin and southward to Florida and Texas. 
It grows in moist, shady places, on the borders of woods, and among rocks, flower- 
ing in June at the northern range. The plant was sent to England for cultivation 
in 1704 by Bannister, but, being lost there, Catesby reinforced their gardens from 
Carolina twenty years later. oo 
Rafinesque first introduced the plant in American medical literature in his 
work on Medical Botany, 1830, speaking of the leaves as vulnerary and vermifuge. 
Schoepf gives the same in substance; and Merat and De Lens speak of the fruit 
as aromatic and bitter, and an affirmed substitute for hops. Howard speaks of 
the bark of the root as an excellent stimulant, expectorant tonic; especially useful 
* IIraw, ptao, to fly: the Greek name of the elm, alluding to the winged fruits. 
