384 



ARALIACE/E. I. ADOXA. II. PANAX. 



FIG. 66. 



central pulp, compressed, surrounded by a vertical membranous 

 border. The terminal flower is only 4-cleft, with 8 stamens : 

 the rest 5-cleft ; hence according to the rule assumed by Lin- 

 neeus, this genus is placed in Octandria. A smooth herb of 

 humble growth, with twice ternate leaves, and terminal capitate 

 green flowers, (f. 66. n.) 



1 A. MOSCHATEILI'NA (Lin. 

 spec. p. 527.) Tj.. H. Native of 

 Europe and Siberia, even to 

 Dahuria, in groves, thickets, and 

 under hedges ; plentiful in Bri- 

 tain in like situations ; in North 

 America in the woods between 

 lat. 54 and 64, and the Rocky 

 Mountains between lat. 42 and 

 46. Smith, engl. hot. t. 453. 

 Curt. fl. lond. t. 26. Fl. dan. 

 94. Moschatellina tetragona, 

 Moench. meth. 478. Lob. icon. 

 674. f. 2. Cord. hist. 1722. f. 

 Gerard, emac. 1091. Root of 

 several white imbricated con- 

 cave scales, producing fibres and runners from their interstices. 

 Stem angular. Radical leaves twice ternate, on long stalks ; 

 cauline ones ternate, on long stalks. Flowers with a musk scent, 

 when moist, forming a round head. (f. 66. a.) 



Tuberous Moschatell. Fl. April, May. Britain. PI. \ foot. 



Cult. The plant will grow freely under the shade of trees ; 

 and will be easily increased by the offsets. 



II. PA V NAX (from irav, pan, all, and ams, aJcos, a remedy ; 

 that is to say, a remedy for all diseases ; in allusion to the mira- 

 culous virtues which is attributed to P. quinque folium, the ginseng 

 of the shops). Lin. gen. no. 1166. Lam. ill. t. 860. D. C. prod. 

 4. p. 252i 



LIN. SYST. Potygamia, Dice'cia. Flowers polygamous. Mar- 

 gin of calyx very short, obsoletely 5-toothed. Petals 5 (f. 67. 

 a,). Stamens 5, inserted along with the petals under the margin 

 of the disk, alternating with them. Styles 2-3, short. Fruit 

 fleshy, compressed, orbicular, or didymous (f. 67. c.), 2-celled : 

 cells coriaceonsly chartaceous, 1 -seeded.- Herbs, shrubs, and 

 trees, having the leaves and inflorescence variable. The habit 

 of the species is heterogeneous, but the characters of those that 

 are perfectly known agree. 



1. Herbaceous plants, with tuberous roots ; and verticillate, 

 petiolate, palmately -compound leaves. Aureliana, Cat. car. 

 append, t. 16. Araliastrum, Vaill. serm. p. 43. 



1 P. QU1NQUEFOLIUM (Lin. 



spec. 1512. )root fusiform, alittle 

 branched ; leaves with 5 leaflets, 

 which are stalked from the top of 

 the common petiole; peduncle 

 of umbel shorter than the pe- 

 tioles ; styles and seeds 2. I/. 

 H. Native of North Ame- 

 rica, in shady mountain woods, 

 from Canada to Carolina ; and 

 of the north of Asia, as in 

 Tauria ; and the north of China. 

 Sims, bot. mag. 1333. Bigel. 

 med. bot. 2. t. 29. Woodv. 

 med. bot. t. 99. Blackw. 513. 

 Lafit. gins. 51. t. 1. Catesb. 

 car. 16. Trew, ehret. t. 6. f. 1. 



FIG. 67. 



Jartoux, in 



Ld, 



trans. 20. 



p. 237. Herb larger than the following "species. Flowers yel- 

 lowish. Berry globose, depressed, red. This plant is a native 

 of Chinese Tartary, and also of North America. In the former 

 country it has been gathered as an invaluable drug from time 

 immemorial. In 1709 the Emperor of China gave orders to 

 10,000 Tartars to go in quest of the root, and to bring as 

 much as they could find ; every one was to give two pounds of 

 the best to the emperor, and to sell the rest for the same weight 

 of fine silver. The roots, which are said to bear some resem- 

 blance to the human form, are gathered and dried, and enter 

 into almost every medicine used by the Tartars and Chinese. 

 Osbeck says that he never looked into the apothecaries' shops 

 but they were always selling ginseng, that both poor people and 

 those of the highest rank made use of it, and that they boil 

 half an ounce in their tea or soup every morning, as a remedy 

 for consumption and other diseases. Jartoux relates that the 

 most eminent physicians of China have written volumes on the 

 medicinal powers of this plant, asserting that it gives immediate 

 relief in extreme fatigue, either of body or mind, that it dissolves 

 petuitous humours, and renders respiration easy, strengthens 

 the stomach, promotes appetite, stops vomiting, removes hyste- 

 rical, hypochondriacal, and all nervous affections, giving a 

 vigorous tone of body, even in extreme old age. The French 

 in Canada use the root for curing the asthma, and as a stomachic. 

 After all, our physicians say that we have no proof of the effi- 

 cacy of ginseng in Europe, and that from its sensible qualities 

 it seems to" possess very little power as a medicine. The Chinese 

 name of yansam or yanson, and the American one garangtonges 

 or garangtoging are both derived from the fancied resemblance 

 in the root. 



Five-leaved Panax. or Ginseng. Fl. Ju. Clt. 1740 PI. 1 J ft. 



2 P. TRIFOLIUM (Lin. spec. 1512.) root globose ; leaves of 3, 

 rarely of 5 leaflets, which are sessile on the top of the common 

 petiole ; peduncle of umbel longer than the petioles ; styles and 

 seeds 3. If.. H. Native of North America, in low shady 

 woods, from Canada to Georgia. Michx. fl. bor. amer. 2. p. 

 256. Bigel. fl. bost. ed. 2. p. 376. P. pusilla, Sims, bot. mag. 

 1334. Aralia triphy'lla, Poir. suppl. 1. p. 418. Pluk. main. 

 t. 435. f. 7. Trew. ehret. t. 6. f. 2. A small herb, with the 

 habit of Anemone nemorbsa. Flowers greenish. Berry greenish, 

 bluntly trigonal. 



Three-leaved Ginseng. Fl. May, June. Clt. 1759. PI. | ft. 



3 P. PSEU'DO-GINSENG (Wall, in act. soc. med. et phys. calc. 

 4. p. 117. pi. rar. asiat. 2. p. 30. t. 137.) tubers of roots in 

 fascicles ; leaves in threes or fours, quinate or ternate ; leaflets 

 lanceolate, ending in a long taper point, petiolate, much atte- 

 nuated at both ends, doubly and cuspidately serrated, sometimes 

 deeply serrated, beset with hoary bristles along the nerves and 

 midrib ; peduncles terminal, usually trifid, about equal in length 

 to the petioles; flowers hermaphrodite; berries 2-3-seeded. 

 3. H. Native of Nipaul, on the top of Mount Sheopore. 

 Flowers whitish. Styles 2-3. Berry 2-3-celled, red. This 

 species comes very near to P. quinqucfolium or Ginseng, but is 

 not known to possess any medicinal qualities. 



False Ginseng. Fl. June. PL 1 to 2 feet. 



4 P. TRIPINNA'TUM (Wall. cat. no. 4934.) herbaceous, un- 

 armed ; leaves triternate ; leaflets ovate, acuminated, mucro- 

 nately serrated, pale beneath, rather downy; panicle long, 

 pubescent; umbellules many-flowered. %. H. Native of 

 Nipaul, at Gosaingsthan. P. decompositum, Wall, but not of 

 D. C. 



Tripinnale-leaved Panax. PL 2 to 3 feet. 



2. Prickly shrubs. Leaves ternate, or palmately lobed. 



5 P. ACULEA'TUM (Ait. hort. kew. 3. p. 448.) stem shrubby; 



