WILD SARSAPARILLA 



Aralia nudicaulis L. 

 GINSENG FAMILY 



The Wild Sarsaparilla can hardly be called a beautiful flower, 

 yet the plant as a whole is attractive, and, for a time in early June, 

 its abundance makes it the most conspicuous feature of many a 

 woodland from Newfoundland to British Columbia. 



A long aromatic rootstock bears a very short stem, from a 

 bud on which spring one leaf and one flower-stalk. Developing 

 together the newly-expanded leaf overarches the newly-opened 

 flowers. As will be seen by the picture, both are in threes. This 

 is the usual number, although sometimes there are four main 

 divisions to the leaf, and the umbels, or clusters of flowers, may 

 vary from two to seven; if more than four, the extra umbels 

 spring from one or more of the primary clusters, so giving a two- 

 storied effect. 



The small, greenish-white flowers seem to be followed by either 

 a full crop of fruit or none at all. In 1919 the bloom was copious, 

 but little fruit was produced; such plants, however, as had any 

 berries bore full clusters, there being no half-filled ones. The 

 berries are purplish-black or finally jet-black, rather sweet when 

 first put in the mouth, but quickly turning bitter like quinine. 

 They ripen late in the season, about the time the leaf turns a 

 clear yellow. 



The roots are supposed to have some medicinal value and there 

 is a slight commercial demand for them. The official sarsaparilla, 

 however, is from quite a different plant, the smilax of Central 

 and South America. 



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