CORNACE.E. (DOGWOOD FAMILY.) 213 



flowers short and united. Ovary 2 - 5-celled, with a single anatropous ovule 

 suspended from the top of each cell, ripening into a berry-like drupe, with as 

 many seeds as cells. Embryo minute. Leaves compound or decompound. 

 Flowers white or greenish, in umbels. Roots (perennial), bark, fruit, etc., 

 warm and aromatic. (Derivation obscure.) 



1. ARALIA. Flowers monoeciously polygamous or perfect, the umbels usually 

 in corymbs or panicles ; styles and cells of the (black or dark purple) fruit 

 5; stems herbaceous or woody ; ultimate divisions of the leaves pinnate. 



* Umbels numerous in a large compound panicle ; leaves very large, decompound. 



1. A. spinbsa, L. (ANGELICA-TREE. HERCULES' CLUB.) Shrub, or a 

 low tree ; the stout stem and stalks prickly ; leaflets ovate, pointed, serrate, pale 

 beneath. River-banks, Penn. to Ind., and south to the Gulf. July, Aug. 



2. A. racem6sa, L. (SPIKENARD.) Herbaceous ; stem widely branched ; 

 leaflets heart-ovate, pointed, doubly serrate, slightly downy ; umbels racemose ; 

 styles united. Rich woodlands, N. Brunswick to Minn., south to the moun- 

 tains of Ga. July. Well known for its spicy-aromatic large roots. 



* * Umbels 2-7, corymbed ; stem short, somewhat woody. 



3. A. hispida, Vent. (BRISTLY SARSAPARILLA. WILD ELDER.) Stem 

 (1-2 high) bristly, leafy, terminating in a peduncle bearing several umbels; 

 leaves twice pinnate; leaflets oblong-ovate, acute, cut-serrate. Rocky and 

 sandy places, Newf. to the Dakotas, south to the mountains of N. C. June. 



4. A. nudicaulis, L. (WiLD SARSAPARILLA.) Stem scarcely rising out 

 of the ground, smooth, bearing a single long-stalked leaf (1 high) and a shorter 

 naked scape, with 2-7 umbels ; leaflets oblong-ovate or oval, pointed, serrate, 

 5 on each of the 3 divisions. Moist woodlands; range of n. 3. May, June. 

 The long horizontal aromatic roots a substitute for officinal Sarsaparilla. 



2. GfNSENG. Flowers dioecious! y polygamous ; styles and cells of the red or 

 reddish fruit 2 or 3 ; stem herbaceous, low, simple, bearing a whorl of 3 pal- 

 mately 3 - 7-foliolate leaves, and a simple umbel on a slender peduncle. 



5. A. quinquefblia, Decsne. & Planch. (GINSENG.) Root large and 

 spindle-shaped, often forked (4-9' long, aromatic) ; stem lhigh; leaflets long- 

 stalked, mostly 5, large and thin, obovate-oblong, pointed ; styles mostly 2 ; 

 fruit bright red. Rich and cool woods, Vt. and W. Conn, to Minn., south to 

 the mountains of Ga. July. 



6. A. trif61ia, Decsne. & Planch. (DWARF GINSENG. GROUND-NUT.) 

 Root or tuber globular, deep in the ground (pungent to the taste, not aromatic) ; 

 stems 4-8' high ; leaflets 3-5, sessile at the summit of the leafstalk, narrowly 

 oblong, obtuse ; styles usually 3 ; fruit yellowish. Rich woods, N. Scotia to 

 Minn., south to Ga. April, May. 



ORDER 50. CORNACEJE. (DOGWOOD FAMILY.) 



Shrubs or trees {rarely herbaceous), with opposite or alternate simple leaves, 

 the calyx-tube coherent with the l 2-celled ovary, its limb minute, the petals 

 (valvate in the bud) and as many stamens borne on the margin of an epigy~ 

 nous disk in the perfect Jlowers ; style one: a single anatropous ovule hang- 

 ing from the top of the cell; the fruit a I -^-seeded drupe; embryo nearly 



