364 THE GINSENG FAMILY. 



FIVE=LEAVED GIN5ENQ. {Plate CXVI.) 

 Panax quhiquefdliuin. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Ginseng. Greenish. Scentless. Georgia and Alabaiiia 7iorih7var J. J lu'y, August. 



Fhni'crs : imperfect; minute; growing in an umbel at the end of a long, axillary 

 peduncle. Calyx : short, with five small teeth. Corolla : of five petals. Stamens : 

 five. Ftslll: one; styles, usually two. Frit/l : a cluster of bright red fleshy 

 berries. Leaves: three; whorled at the summit of the stem and with petioles 

 considerably longer than the flowering peduncle; palmately compound, the three 

 to seven leaflets ovate, or oblong-obovate, long pointed at the apex and tapering at 

 the base; serrate; thin; bright green; smooth; the lower pair much smaller 

 than the others. Stem : erect, smooth; about one foot high. Rootstock : spindle- 

 shaped ; aromatic. 



While the five-leaved ginseng bears very fleecy, attractive flowers, its trtie 

 value lies, as we know, in its curious rootstock, long famed as being a cure 

 for almost every sort of ill, and an antidote for every poison. Even the 

 word panacea is believed by many to have been derived from its generic 

 name. In China where it has been largely cultivated and also exported 

 from that country in immense quantities, it is still regarded as being pos- 

 sessed of properties more powerfully stimulating to the human system than 

 those of any other drug. In North Carolina a state law now prohibits it 

 from being gathered before it has seeded itself, as formerly hundreds of 

 pounds were yearly collected by those more impatient for their own profit 

 than thoughtful of the plant's good. It is nevertheless becoming very 

 scarce. 



P. irifbliuin, the dwarf ginseng, or ground nut, is an attractive little plant, 

 seen in bloom through the woods of early spring. Its slender peduncle 

 bearing the umbel of cream-coloured fluffy bloom arises high above the 

 three leaves whorled at the summit of the stem. These latter are long- 

 petioled and palmately divided into three to five oval to oblanceolate and 

 sessile leaflets. Often for the sake of its rounded, tuberous rootstock which 

 is sweet-tasting and edible the little plant is uprooted. 



THE CARROT FAMILY. 



UnibellifercE. 

 Herbs often with hollow and fu?'ro7ved stems ; their flowers groivijig 

 in umbels^ or rarely heads., lahieh are usually subtetided by an involucre ; 

 and their alte?'?tate, simple or niostly compound leaves with petioles dilated 

 atid clasping at their bases. 



