XANTHOXYLACE^:. 



sessile, or stalked on the gynophore (receptacle), 2-valved, 

 1-2-seeded. Seeds when solitary globose, when in pairs hemi- 

 spherical, shining and black. Embryo straight, or slightly 

 curved. Trees or shrubs, usually with prickles on the branches, 

 petioles, and nerves of the leaves. Leaves usually pellucid- 

 dotted, alternate or opposite, simple, ternate, or pinnated either 

 with or without an odd one. Flowers small, inflorescence axil- 

 lary or terminal, various. W. and A. 



443. X. Avicennse DC. prodr. i. 726. Fagara Avicennae 

 Lam. diet. ii. 445. (Lobel. ic. ii. t. 133. f. 2.) China. 



Prickly. Leaves unequally pinnated; leaflets 9-13, lanceolate, some- 

 what entire, smooth, on short stalks. Racemes panicled, shorter than 

 the leaves. Used in China as an antidote against all poisons ; un- 

 doubtedly a powerful stimulant. 



444. X. fraxineum Willd. iv. 757. Smith in Reess cyclop. 

 No. 12. Bigelowmed. bot. iii. t. 59. DC. prodr. i. 726. Z. ra- 

 miflorum Michx.fl. ii. 235. Woods and moist shady declivities 

 in the United States. (Prickly Ash.) 



4 Branches covered with strong sharp prickles arranged without order, 

 though most frequently in pairs at the insertion of the young branches. 

 Leaves pinnate, the common petiole sometimes unarmed and sometimes 

 prickly on the back. Leaflets about 5 with an odd one, nearly sessile, 

 ovate, acute, with slight vesicular serratures, somewhat downy under- 

 neath. Flowers before the leaves, in sessile umbels about the origin of 

 the young branches, small and greenish, polygamous. In the males 

 the calyx is 5-leaved, the sepals oblong, obtuse, erect. Stamens 5 with 

 subulate filaments and sagittate ,4-celled anthers. Ovary abortive. 

 Hermaphrodite ; calyx and stamens like the last , ovaries 3 or 4, pedi- 

 celled, with erect, converging styles nearly as long as the stamens. 

 Females apetalous, on a separate shrub. Calyx smaller and more 

 compressed. Ovaries about 5, pedicelled ; styles converging into close 

 contact at top, and a little twisted. Stigmas obtuse. Capsules stipi- 

 tate, oval, covered with excavated dots, varying from green to red, 

 2-valved, 1-seeded ; the seed oval, blackish. Bark slightly aromatic 

 with a strong pungency ; leaves more aromatic resembling those of the 

 lemon in smell. Has a good deal of reputation in North America as a 

 remedy in chronic rheumatism ; generally given in decoction. Has 

 also been employed as a topical stimulant, producing a powerful effect 

 when applied to secreting surfaces and to ulcerated parts. 



445. X. Clava Hercu\is Linn sp. pi. 1455. DC. prodr. i. 727. 

 Macfady. fl. 194. X. Caribaeum Lam. X. Carolinianum 

 Gcertn. (Sloane ii. 28. t. 172.) Common in the West 

 Indies. 



A tree about 20 feet high. Stem erect, prickly; branches downy at 

 the extremities. Leaves unequally pinnated in 7-8 pairs ; leaflets 

 opposite, oblong-lanceolate, blunt, entire, with a row of pellucid dots 

 near the margin ; smooth and shining above, hairy along the veins on 

 the under surface ; petioles occasionally prickly. Flowers white, in 

 terminal leafy panicles, Bark much used in the West Indies in malig- 



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