REPOET OF THE BOTANIST. 73 



half an inch thick, giving off fibrous roots from the lower side. The ex 

 treiuity of the root stock sends up a pair of kidney-shaped leave.s on 

 stalks 6 to 10 inches long. The leaves, when fully developed, are 5 to 6 

 inches broad, and about 3 inches from the base to the obtuse point. 

 Tbe margins are entire. The leaves and stalks, when young, are some- 

 what hairy, becoming nearly smootii in age. From between the leaves, 

 close to the ground and terminating the root-stock, there issues a single 

 flower on a drooping peduncle 1 or -2 inches long. This dower, when 

 fidly developed, is about an inch in length. It has no proper corolla, 

 but a bell-shaped calyx divided above into three oblong, short-pointed, 

 spreading lobes, which are of a brownish-purple color inside. The 

 lower part of the calyx is pubescent externally and coherent with the 

 ovary, which above spreads out into six radiating stigmas. There are 

 twelve stamens united to the base of the- style, the anthers short. The 

 flower is usually buried among the old leaves which cover the ground 

 where it grows. The fruit is formed of the thickened, fleshy calyx and 

 ovary, divided into six ceils, each containing a number of small seeds. 

 The wild ginger belongs to the same botanical familv as the Serpentaria. 

 The rhizoma or root-stock has an agreeable aromatic taste approaching 

 that of the true ginger, and also somewhat like that of Serpentaria. 

 Medicinally it is a warm, aromatic stimulant. It has been employed as 

 a substitute for ginger in common domestic use. The leaves and flowers 

 possess the same taste and quality as the root-stock. 



It is purchased, by a Carolina Arm, in three forms : (1) The fibrous 

 roots from large root-stocks; (2) the root-stock without the fibrous roots ; 

 andj (3) the root-stock with the fibrous roots. In the first form their 

 annual average j)urchaseis 1,000 pounds ; in the second and third forms, 

 about 5,000 pounds of each. Plate XIII, Fig. 2, flower enlarged with 

 the sepals removed ; 3, transverse section of the fruit. 



Anemopsis calefornica — Terba Mansa. 



A perennial herbaceous plant, growing in California, Arizona, and 

 Northern Mexico. It belongs to the natural order Piperacece. It has 

 a thickish, creeping root-stalk, which has a pungent, aromatic, and as- 

 tringent taste. From this proceeds a number of oblong or elliptical 

 leaves, from 2 to G inches long and half as wide, on stalks as long as 

 the blade. These leaves are entire, obtuse or obtusish, with a thick 

 midrib and and a two-lobed or heart-shai)ed base. From the same 

 point also proceed one, two, or three flowering stalks, G to 8 inches high, 

 which are naked below, near the top producing a broaclly ovate, clasp- 

 ing leaf, and one or two leaves like the radical ones, but smaller, ter- 

 minating with a conical compact flowering spike, one-half to one and 

 one-half inches long. This flower-spike has at its base an involucre of 

 tivo or eight whitish oblong leaves, which look like petals, and are 

 about an inch long. The true flowers are on the conical receptacle 

 above the involucre. They are very small and numerous, each with a 

 small, whitish bract at its base. Each flower has six to eight stamens, 

 and three or four spreading stigmas joined below in a many-seeded 

 ovary. 



The appearance of this head or cone of flowers, with its white invo- 

 lucre, is much like that of an anemone, and from this circumstance the 

 plant derives its botanical name Anemopsis — meaning like an anemone. 

 The root-stock is much employed by the Indians and natives in a num- 

 ber of complaints, being undoubtedly useful for dysentery and diar- 

 rhea, from the large amount of tannin contained in it. Plate XIV. 



