The Hercules' Club 



ground stem, stored with plant food, sends up its lusty shoots in 

 spring. The ailanthus, in its most ambitious efforts, never threw 

 up such tall, thick sprouts. Fifteen to twenty feet these un- 

 branched shoots grow, and crown themselves with umbrellas of 

 leaves, twice compound like those of the Kentucky coffee-tree, 

 but much larger. In fact, no temperate zone tree has leaves of 

 such dimensions, though the oval leaflets are moderate in size, 

 and people are likely to mistake the strong, spiny petiole of this 

 leaf for a branch. 



These leaves deserve more than a passing comment. They 

 come out with a rich, silky bronze sheen in spring, and turn 

 to red and gold in autumn. They sway in the summer 

 winds, giving the tree the look of a royal palm transplanted 

 from the land of the orange and citron. I have seen a vacant 

 lot overrun by these headstrong yearlings, and there is no 

 such sight outside the tropics for unrestrained vegetable ex- 

 uberance. It would be a hardy person who succeeded in 

 getting a piece of land away from these outlaws, for the 

 stems though soft and brittle inside, have a tough, horny 

 covering, and spines which though but skin deep are formidable 

 weapons of defence. 



The Hercules' club is very late about its blooming, which 

 makes it horticulturally more valuable. There are few trees 

 and shrubs in flower to compete with this one when the cloud of 

 minute white flowers settles above its crown of leaves. What 

 they lack in size as individuals they make up in numbers. 

 The flower cluster matches the leaves in its dimensions. 

 The purplish berries make a fine showing in the fall and 

 winter. 



This tree strongly reminds us of the wild sarsaparilla and the 

 spikenard of our woodland rambles; and for the best of reasons. 

 They are all members of the ginseng family, and all have the most 

 extravagant habits, though but one is arborescent. All have 

 a well-earned reputation for medicinal properties. The little 

 plant from which the family name comes is noted the world over. 

 The Chinese reverence its "man-shaped" root, and pay fabulous 

 prices for it, believing that it cures all human ills. Since 

 collectors have almost exterminated our wild ginseng, it 

 is profitably cultivated for export. If it but grew as do 

 the roots of Aralia spinosa — but then, the price would 



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