Aralia. ARALIACE^E. 273 



ends of the stem and branches, subtended by 2 or more foliaceous dissected bracts, 

 3 - 6-rayed ; rays slender, 1 to 3 inches long ; umbellets few-flowered, with unequal 

 pedicels ; involucels of short entire bracts, rarely more foliaceous and divided : fruit 

 oblong-oval, 2 lines long, armed with rows of hooked prickles : seed deeply chan- 

 nelled. Bot. Beechey, 348. 



Dry hillsides, Sacramento Valley. Of reputed efficacy, applied in poultice, as a remedy for the 

 bite of rattlesnakes. This plant is peculiar in habit, but has a seed similar to that of several of 

 the species of Caiicalis. It has been referred to Duucus brachiatus of Australia, which however 

 has the prickles always barbed and is a true Daucus. 



ORDER XLVI. ARALIACE.SI. 



Like Umbelliferce, but the umbels not regularly compound, stems apt to be woody, 

 petals imbricated in the bud, styles and carpels more than two, and the fruit fleshy 

 (berry-like or drupaceous). 



A rather large order in the warm parts of the world, represented in Europe and in cultivation 

 by the Ivy, and in North America and Northern Asia mainly by the following genus. 



1. ARALIA, Linn. SPIKENARD. 



Calyx 5-toothed or entire. Petals 5, ovate, slightly imbricate. Stamens 5. 

 Disk depressed or rarely conical. Ovary 2 - 5-celled : styles free or connate at 

 base, at length divaricate : stigmas terminal. Fruit laterally compressed, becoming 

 3 - 5-angled, fleshy externally ; endocarp chartaceous. Perennial herbs or shrubs ; 

 leaves alternate, digitate or compound, with serrate leaflets : umbels mostly simple, 

 solitary, racemed, or panicled ; pedicels jointed ; bracts small. 



About 30 species, of which 8 belong to North America, chiefly east of the Rocky Mountains, 

 the remainder to Eastern Asia. Probably the only Californian representative of the order is the 

 following species. 



1. A. Californica, Watson. Herbaceous, unarmed and nearly glabrous, 8 to 

 10 feet high, from a large thick root : leaves bipinnate, or the upper pinnate with 1 

 or 2 pairs of leaflets, which are cordate-ovate, 4 to 8 inches long or more, shortly 

 acuminate, simply or doubly serrate with short acute teeth ; uppermost leaves ovate- 

 lanceolate : umbels in loose terminal and axillary compound or simple racemose 

 panicles, which are a foot or two long and more or less gland ular-tomentose; rays 

 numerous, 4 to 6 lines long; involucres of several linear bractlets : flowers 1^ to 2 

 lines long ; disk and stylopodium obsolete ; styles united to the middle : fruit (im- 

 mature) 1| lines long. Proc. Am. Acad. xi. 144. 



In shaded mountain ravines and moist places ; Gavilan Mountains (Brewer) ; Bolinas Bay 

 (Sigelow) ; Sierra County, Lcmmon. Much resembling the eastern A. racemosa, but differing in 

 its much greater size, fewer umbels, larger and with more numerous rays, and larger flowers and 

 involucres. It has not been collected in mature fruit. A. humilis, of Mexico and New Mexico, 

 is distinguished especially by its large pulvinate stylopodium. 



A. SPIXOSA, another eastern species, known as Hercules' Club, has become somewhat common 

 in cultivation. 



FATSIA HORRIDA, Benth. & Hook. (Echinopanax, Decaisne & Planch.), is reported in Hook. 

 Fl. as having been collected in California by Douglas. It is frequent in shady fir woods in the 

 Cascade and Coast Ranges, from the Columbia northward to Sitka, and also extends southward 

 in the Coast Range, but it is doubtful as belonging to this State. It has a stout woody stem 6 to 

 12 feet long, creeping at base, leafy at the summit, and very prickly throughout, making the for- 

 ests in places almost impassable ; the very large leaves palmately lobed, and the capitate umbels 

 in a long raceme. The genus is distinguished by valvate petals, 2-3-celled fruit, pedicels not 

 jointed, and palmatifid leaves. 



HEDERA HELIX, the European Ivy, is very frequently cultivated, and near the coast is already 

 half wild. 



