ABALIACEAE 109 



date-ovate ; racemes axillary, compound, paniculately umbellulate ; 



involucels small. 



RACEMOSE ARALIA. Spikenard. 



Root thick, aromatic. Stem 3 to 5 feet high, rather stout, with spreading and 

 somewhat dichotomous branches. Leaflets 3 to 6 or 8 inches long, slightly hairy, 

 mostly petiolulate. Berries small, not torulose, dark purple when mature. 

 Hob. Rich woods; Brandy wine hills: not common. Fl. July. Fr. Sept. 



Obs. This is often introduced into gardens. The root and berries, 

 infused in alcohol, made a favorite Tincture, in times past, for 

 those who indulged in the perilous habit of taking such stomachics. 

 JOHN BARTRAM, in his appendix to SHORT'S Medicina Britannica, 

 printed at Philadelphia, 1751, says the plant was called " Wild 

 Liquorice. " 



2. A. liudicaiilis, L. Stem very short; leaf mostly solitary, 

 subradical, triquinate; leaflets ovate or oblong-oval, serrate; um- 

 bels simple, 3 on a naked scape ; involucre none. 



NAKED-STEM ARALIA. Sarsaparilla. 



Root creeping, thickish and long, somewhat aromatic, but mawkish. Stem 

 scarcely more than the crown of the root. Leaf on an erect petiole 6 to 12 inches 

 long, 3-parted at summit, each division 2 to 4 or 5 inches in length, and bearing 

 5 odd-pinnate subsessile leaflets. Scape 4 to 6 or 8 inches high, divided at summit 

 into 3 smoothjsh peduncles about 2 inches long, each bearing a naked many-flowered 

 globose umbel an inch or inch and half in diameter. Berries larger than the pre- 

 ceding, torulose, purplish-black when mature. 

 Hob. Rich, rocky woodlands : frequent. Fl. May. Fr. July. 



Obs. The root of this is sometimes used as a substitute for the 

 Sarsaparilla, of the shops (a species of Smilax). I believe both the 

 original, and the substitute, to be rather innocent medicines, -provi- 

 ded the disease be not serious ! 



f f Stems suffruticose, or woody. 



3. A. hispida, MX. Stem suffruticose and bristly at base ; leaves 

 bipinnate ; leaflets lance-ovate, incised-serrate ; umbels axillary 

 and terminal, on long peduncles. 



HISPID ARALIA. 



Stem 18 inches to 2 feet high, slender, shrubby at base, and hispid with rigid 

 tawny bristles, subherbaceous, hirsute, and somewhat paniculately branched 

 above. Leaflets 1 to 2 inches long, sessile; petioles dilated at base, more or less 

 hispid. Umbels corymbose, on branching peduncles 2 or 3 to 6 inches in length ; 

 invol-ucre of numerous subulate leaflets. 

 Hob. Hills, along Schuylkill : rare. Fl. June. Fr. 



Obs. The mature fruit, of this species, I have not seen. The A. 

 spinbsa, L. or Angelica Tree a stout prickly shrub, with thick 

 club-like branches, and large bipinnately compound leaves is oc- 

 casionally to be seen about old settlements, where it has been intro- 

 duced. 



171. PA V 1VAX, L. 



[Gr. Pan, all, and akos, a remedy ; being a supposed Panacea.'] 



Flowers sometimes dioicous : calyx-teeth obsolete. Petals 5. Styles 

 2 or 3. Fruit drupe-like and succulent, or subcoriaceous and nearly 

 dry, 2- or 3-lobed, 2- or 3-celled. Perennial herbs (in this County): 



