176 A GUIDE TO THE WILD FLOWERS 



531. Leaves all compound, except in the Pennywort No. 539. 



(Nos. 532-555.) 



Flower clusters (umbels) usually bracted (see details at no. 538) 



Carrot Family no. 538 



Flower clusters not usually bracted Ginseng Family no. 532 



532. GINSENG FAMILY. ARALIACEAE. 



Often trees or shrubs, but a few are herbs in our range. 

 Leaves all compound, sometimes doubly so, the leaflets 

 coarsely or finely toothed. Flowers sometimes in a simple 

 umbel (see Fig. 536), more often these umbels gathered into 

 various, often much branched flower clusters. Each umbel 

 is usually without the characteristic set of bracts which sur- 

 round the base of such clusters in most of the plants of the 

 Carrot Family (see Fig. 547). Fruit mostly fleshy. Our 

 species may be separated thus : 

 Leaves twice or thrice compound 



Plant 3-6 ft. high ; umbels numerous Spikenard no. 533 



Plants 1-2 ft. high; umbels usually 3-5 



Flower cluster naked, arising directly from the ground . . . 



Wild Sarsaparilla no. 534 



Flower cluster terminating the leafy shoots 



Wild Elder no. 535 



Leaves merely compound, the leaflets all arising at the same place. 



Plant about 5 in. high or less Dwarf Ginseng no. 536 



Plant 8 in. high or more, usually much more 



Ginseng no. 537 



533. Spikenard. Aralia raceinosa. A much branched coarse 

 woods herb, 3-6 ft. Leaves twice or thrice compound, 1-3 

 ft. long, the ultimate leaflets oval, pointed, toothed, 2-6 in. 

 long. Flowers in small umbels, these gathered into an im- 

 mense and much branched cluster, greenish-white. Fruit a 

 purplish-brown, or reddish berry, about 34 i^i- '^^'^ diameter. 

 New Brunswick to Georgia, and westward. July. Fig. 533. 



534. Wild Sarsaparilla. Aralia nudicaulis. Resembling No. 

 533, but smaller in all its parts, and not usually over 13^ 

 ft. high. Leaf long stalked, twice compound, arising as if 

 on a separate plant from the flower stalk, which is also naked 

 and arises directly from the ground. Berries purplish-black. 



