WHITE AND GREENISH WILD FLOWERS 



and moist, rocky woods, during May and June, from 

 Newfoundland to Georgia, Colorado, and Idaho. 



GINSENG 



Panax quinquefolium. Ginseng Family. 



The Chinese have regarded the root of the Gin- 

 seng with the highest of fanatical esteem from time 

 immemorial, and believe it to possess almost miracu- 

 lous powers in preserving health, endowing youth, 

 and prolonging life. It is said to have been actually 

 worth its weight in gold in Pekin, and the first ship- 

 ment to Canton from this country yielded fabulous 

 profits. The Chinese name, Ginseng, is said to have 

 originated from the fancied resemblance of the human 

 figure in the root, and the more this shape is developed 

 the higher it is prized. Its medicinal virtues, however, 

 seem to be wholly imaginary; still every Chinaman 

 wants it, and it is now being cultivated and exported 

 at the rate of over a million dollars worth annually. 

 It is small wonder then, that this plant is not common. 

 The stem grows from eight to fifteen inches high, and 

 bears three irregularly toothed leaves in a whorl on 

 slender stems at its summit. Each leaf has five thin, 

 long-pointed, oval leaflets, the outer three of which 

 are largest. From six to twenty tiny, five-petalled, 

 yellowish green flowers are gathered in a rounded, 

 fleecy cluster on the tip of a slender stem springing 

 upright from the common axil of the leaf stems. They 

 are succeeded by a few flattened, bright crimson ber- 

 ries. It should be found during July and August in 



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