GINSENG FAMILY. Araliacese. 



A so-called stemless Araha, whose true 

 Wild Sar- . 



saparilla plant-stem scarcely rises above ground, 



Aralia the leaf -stem and flower-stem apparently 



nudicaulis separating near the root. There is a single 

 Green-white long-stalked leaf rising 7-12 inches above 

 the ground, with three branching divisions 

 of leaflets ; there are about five ovate, finely toothed, 

 light green leaflets on each division. The flower-stalk is 

 leafless and bears 3-7 rather flat hemispherical clusters 

 of greenish white flowers whose tiny petals are strongly 

 reflexed ; the five greenish stamens are conspicuous. 

 The fruit is a round purple-black berry in clusters. Com- 

 mon in moist woodlands, from Me., south along the 

 mountains to N. C., and west to Minn., S. Dak., and 

 Mo. The aromatic roots are used as a substitute for the 

 true Sarsaparilla (Smilax officinalis). The vars. on p. 302. 

 The roots of Ginseng which , in the esti- 

 Panax mation of the Chinese, are possessed of 



quinquefolium some potent medicinal virtue, are so much 

 Pale green- in demand for export that through the as- 

 siduity of collectors the plant has -become 

 rare. The large deep green leaf has five 

 thin, obovate, acute-pointed leaflets, sharply and ir- 

 regularly toothed ; in arrangement it slightly resembles 

 the horse-chestnut leaf. The plant-stem is smooth and: 

 green, and the compound leaves are borne three in a 

 circle. The yellowish green flowers (the staminate lily- 

 of-the-valley-scented) are crowded into a single hemi- 

 spherical cluster ; they are polygamous. The fruit is a 

 deep ruby red berry, in a scant cluster. The name is a 

 corruption of the Chinese Jin-chen, meaning manlike 

 (from the two-legged appearance of the root). The plant 

 is small 8-15 inches high. Rare in rich cold woods. 

 Me., N. H., and Vt. to Conn., west to Minn, and Neb. 



A tiny species with a spherical root, gen- 

 Dwarf Ginseng 

 Panax tri- erally three compound leaves composed of 



folium about three toothed, ovate leaflets, and 



Dull white dull white flowers, staminate and pistil- 

 May-June late, on the same plant, borne in a single 

 cluster. Fruit yellow. 4-8 inches high. Me. , south to 

 Ga. , in the mountains, and west to Minn, and Iowa. 



304 



