CORNACE^. (DOGWOOD FAMILY.) 199 



1. ARALTA, L. Flowers monoxiously 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 very numerous in a large compound panicle : leaves very large, quinately or 

 pinnately decomjbund, 



1. A. spin6sa, L. (ANGELICA-TREE. HERCULES' CLUB.) Shrub, or a 

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

 neath. River-banks, Pennsylvania to Kentucky and southward : common in 

 cultivation. July, August. 



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

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

 styles united. Rich woodlands. July. Well known for its spicy-aromatic 

 large roots. There are traces of stipules at the dilated base of the leafstalks. 



* * Umbels 2 7, corymbed : stem short, somewhat woody. 



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

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

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

 common northward, and southward along the mountains. June. 



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

 of the ground, smooth, bearing a single long-stalked leaf 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 ; with the same range as No. 3. May, June. 

 The aromatic horizontal roots, which are several feet long, are employed as a 

 substitute for the officinal Sarsaparilla. Leafstalk 1 high, 



2. GINSENG, Decaisne & Planchon. (Panax, L.) Flowers diceciously poly- 

 gamous: styles and cells of the (red or reddish) fruit 2 or 3 : stem herbaceous, low, 

 simple, bearing at its summit a whorl of 3 palmately 3 - 7-foliolate leaves (or per- 

 haps rather a single and sessile twice-compound leaf), and a single umbel on a 

 slender naked peduncle. 



5. A. quinquef61ia. (GINSENG.) Root large and spindle-shaped, often 

 forked (4' -9' long, aromatic); stem 1 high; leaflets long-stalked, mostly 5, 

 large and thin, obovate-oblong, pointed ; styles mostly 2 ; fruit bright red. (Pa- 

 nax quinquefolium, L. ) Rich and cool woods : becoming rare. July. 



6. A. trif61ia. (DWARF GINSENG. GROUND-NUT.) Root or tuber globular, 

 deep in the ground (pungent to the taste, not aromatic) ; stems 4' - 8' high ; leaf- 

 lets 3-5, sessile at the summit of the leafstalk, narrowly oblong, obtuse ; styles 

 usually 3 ; fruit yellowish. Rich woods : common northward. April, May. 



HEDERA HELIX, the European IVY, is almost the only other representative 

 of this family in the northern temperate zone. 



ORDER 48. CORNACE^E. (DOGWOOD FAMILY.) 



Shrubs or trees (rarely herbaceous}, with opposite or alternate simple leaves, 

 the calyx-tube coherent with the 1 - 2-celled ovary, its limb minute, the petals 

 (yalvate in the bud) and as many stamens borne on the margin of an epigy- 

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



