ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



251 



THE HOP-TREE OR WAFER-ASH. 



{PleUa tnfoUata. L.) 



Hujj-tree or Wafer Ash {PteUa trifoUata, L.) 



The Hop-tree {Ptelea trifoUata, L.) is a shrub 

 or small tree of the natural order Bvtacece, to 

 which belongs also the Rne of the gardens, the 

 Prickly-ash (Zanihoxylum Americanum, Mill) 

 and the Southern Prickly-ash (Z. Carolinianum, 

 Lam.) In some respects these last-named arc 

 medicinal as well as botanical analogues of the 

 Hop-tree. The genus Ptelea has polygamous 

 flowers, i. e., the perfect and imperfect flowers 

 are variously mixed. They have four or five 

 stamens, and a thin, wing-like fruit, which is 

 two-celled, but one cell only perfects seed. Its 

 name, Ptelea. is the Greek for Elm, given be- 

 cause of the resemblance of the wing-like or 

 samaroid fruit. Its six known species are all 

 Xorth American. Three are Mexican. One 

 Southern species (P. mollis) is clothed with a 

 silky pubescence. Another species, Ptelea Bald- 

 winii, of East Florida, has minute leaves with 

 obtuse leaflets. The remaining species, the sub- 

 ject of our sketch, known in Britain as Shrubbv 



Trefoil, is indigenous throughout the United 

 States, from the East to beyond the Mississippi, 

 and even to Texas, in moist shady places, and 

 on the borders of woods and among rocks. It 

 is a tall shrub, but under cultivation at Gordon 

 Castle. Scotland, it had, in 183.0, reached the 

 height of forty-five feet, with a trunk fifteen 

 inches in diameter, and with branches extend- 

 ing twenty-seven feet from side to side. Two 

 varieties have been found— one with five leaflets 

 (P. Pentajjhylla, Mtench), the other with the 

 branches, petioles and under surface of the leaves 

 clothed with a soft tomentose pubescence, even 

 when old (P. 2}itbeseens, Ph.) It was originally 

 i-ent to England by Bannister, but being lost 

 was reintroduced by ( 'atesby in 172i from Car- 

 olina. It is common in the gardens of Europe; 

 and in the Jardiu des Plants, at Paris, a tree 

 may be seen the crown of which had in sixty 

 years from planting attained a diameter of forty- 

 five leet. 



The first mention of the Ptelea in the medical 

 literature of this country is found in Rafin- 

 es(|ue's Medical Botany. He observes that "the 

 leaves are vulnerary, used for poultices, and an 

 anthelminlic."' It is mentioned in Gritfith's 

 Medical Botany: "The native species, Ptelea 

 trifoUata, is said to be anthelmintic, for which 

 purpose the leaves and young shoots are used 

 in strong infusion. The fruit is aromatic and 

 bitter, and is stated to be a good substitute for 

 hops."' In Howard's Botanic Medicine, 1836, 

 it is described under the vulgar names of Cure- 

 all, Ague-bark, Pickaway, Anise, and Wing- 

 seed. It is in more or less repute by all the 

 different medical schools for various medicinal 

 virtues. It certainly is deserving of greater 

 notice for cultivation than it receives in this 

 country. 



ZANTHOXYLUM CLAVA-HERCULIS. 



During the summer of '64, while a resident of 

 the central part of the State of New York, my 

 attention was called to a tree growing about 

 fifteen miles south of Syracuse and two miles 

 south of the place of the CardiffGiant notoriety. 

 The gentleman who pointed the tree out to me 

 said he thought there was a tree I could not find 

 a name for. The tree was standing in an open 

 field, and looked stately and majestic at a dis- 

 tance, having a symmetrical top, the trunk be- 

 ing, I should judge, about eighteen inches 

 in diameter, and free from limbs till it reached 

 the height of twenty feet. The leaves were 

 decompound, something like the Honey-locust, 

 though much larger, many of them measuring 



