166 
ABA LI ACE JE. (SPIKENARD FAMILY.) 
Order 50. ARALIACEiE. (Spikenard Family.) 
Herbs or shrubs , with the same characters as Umbelli- 
ferae, but with usually more than 2 styles , and the fruit a 
3 - several-celled drupe. Albumen nearly fleshy. Petals flat 
1* ARALIA, L. Spikenard. Wild Sarsaparilla. 
Flowers mostly perfect. Calyx-teeth 5, short. Petals, sta¬ 
mens, and styles 5. Fruit a berry-like 5-lobed, 5-celled, and 5- 
seeded (blackish) drupe. — Shrubs, low trees, or perennial herbs, 
with large 2 - 3-temately or pinnately compound leaves, and pani- 
cled umbels. Flowers greenish white. (Derivation unknown.) 
1. A. racemdsa, L. (Spikenard.) Herbaceous; stem wide¬ 
ly branched, leafy; leaflets heart-ovate, pointed, doubly serrate, slight¬ 
ly downy; umbels small and very numerous , clustered in large doubly 
compound racemed panicles. — Rich woodlands. July. — Well 
known for its spicy aromatic large roots. 
2. A, nudicanlis, L. (Wild Sarsaparilla.) Herbaceous , 
smooth ; stem very short , the single long-stalked leaf next the ground; 
eaflets oblong-ovate or oval, pointed, serrate, 5 on each division; 
scape naked , bearing 3 umbels. - Moist woodlands. May, June. - 
, e somatic horizontal roots, which are several feet long, are em- 
high ^ 8 8Ub8titUte for the offi cinal Sarsaparilla. Leaf-stalk 1° 
3. A. hispida, Michx. (Bristly Sarsaparilla.) Bristly 
Shrubby 01 the hase i 8tem low; leaves twice pinnate; 
eaHets oblong-ovate, acute, cut-serrate ; umbels several in a stalked 
corymb. Rocky places. June.-Stem high. 
. A. spinosa, L. (Angelica-tree.) Shrub, or a low tree; 
stem and stalks of the very large 2 - 3-pi nn ate leaves prickly; leaflets 
ovate pomted, serrate, pale beneath; umbels in a branched panicle. 
». Pennsylvania and southward: common in cultivation. July, 
2. pAutaX, L. Ginseng. 
Flowers polygamous. Calyx-teeth obsolete. Petals and sta¬ 
mens 5. Styles 2-3. Fruit a 2 - 3-lobed, 2 - 3-celled, and 2 - 
3-seeded drupe, often fleshy. — Chiefly perennial herbs, with 
greenish-white flowers ; our species with single simple umbels on 
a long peduncle, and only 3 stem-leaves in a whorl. (Name from 
Trap, all , and <W, a medicine , i. e. a panacea.) 
